According to a British medical expert, different strains of the coronavirus are likely to re-infect people every few years.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, predicts that more variants of the virus could emerge even when the pandemic ends, according to a recent report.
The World Health Organization has identified three variants of the coronavirus, including strains from South Africa and Brazil, that experts say could be resistant to vaccines.
Hunter said it was “difficult to predict” how COVID will mutate, adding new strains that may not lead to serious disease.
However, in an interview with BBC Radio 4, he urged governments to be vigilant as they reopen economies.
“We know that new variants are being developed, this is very obvious, and some new variants are expanding and becoming dominant,” he said. “Many new variants end up sold out. … In short, with the rest of human coronaviruses, we expect to be reinfected on average every two or four years with the same virus.
