Vaccines and improved treatment could mean that Covid-19 becomes an illness we live with “like we do with flu”, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he said the arrival of new drugs arriving by the end of 2021 could make coronavirus a “treatable disease”, hailing them – and vaccines – as “our way out to freedom”.
With more than 14 million people in the UK having already received the first dose of a vaccine, Hancock said he hoped all adults in the country could be offered a job “a bit before” September.
The health secretary said new treatments would be necessary for a “small number” of people who might not be protected by vaccines. A number of treatments, including antibody therapy for people with impaired immune systems, are currently being tested.
“I hope that Covid-19 will become a treatable disease by the end of the year,” Hancock told the Telegraph.
New treatments will play an important role in “turning Covid from a pandemic that affects all of our lives into another illness that we have to live with, like we do with flu. That’s where we need to get Covid to over the months to come.”
Living with coronavirus safely hinges on reducing the number of people with the virus admitted to hospital, bringing down the number of deaths and cutting transmission of the virus.
“If Covid-19 ends up like flu, so we live our normal lives and we mitigate through vaccines and treatments, then we can get on with everything again,” Hancock said.
The health secretary’s comments suggested that the UK will not be seeking a ‘zero Covid’ strategy – which would see the government attempt to completely wipe out the virus.
Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of medical journal the Lancet, told the BBC that, if the UK decides ‘zero Covid’ is impossible, politicians will be forced to decide what level of deaths is conscionable, adding that in some years 30,000 die from flue.
“That’s a conversation politicians are going to have to have with the country,” he said, adding that it might take up to four years to build up immunity in the population.
“It’s an illusion to think that our success is going to be sufficient to protect us, because even if we do have high levels of population immunity, our borders are not going to be secure – and we can’t keep locking people up in hotels for the next five years,” Dr Horton said.
Related: Pubs and restaurants open for Easter under Johnson’s lockdown exit plan
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
