John Swartzberg: Latest News

Health officials have warned about two mutant strains of coronavirus that have emerged in the UK.

A rapidly spreading Covid strain has been dubbed the Nightmare Variant after it was found to double infections in a matter of days.

Scientists are warning over a potential new Covid variant that they believe could be a "serious problem" due to us not being prepared.Although the virus seems to be here to stay, vaccines and milder variants mean hospitalisation and death rates have plummeted and many countries have dropped most or all restrictions that kept the virus at bay.But scientists keeping an eye on the disease expect there to be more variants in future, and some will almost certainly be more dangerous than the likes of Omicron and its BA.5 subvariant. READ MORE: Long Covid causes erectile dysfunction and hair loss, new research shows John Swartzberg, a professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California-Berkeley's School of Public Health, said: "The virus always figured out a way to survive. I see nothing that suggests it’s not going to continue to do that."Researchers believe more Covid waves are inevitable as different genetic mutations of the virus battle it out in a bid for dominance.Which one comes out on top will determine the course of the next wave.The best-case scenario is if a milder mutation of the virus wins out next time, giving boffins time to prepare for a worse form of the virus that will eventually follow.Worst case is that a stronger mutation of Covid comes sooner and we're left unprepared to deal with it.So far two possible new variants have been identified.