'Living with Covid': Where the pandemic could go next | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 15, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2025
'Living with Covid': Where the pandemic could go next

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
01 August, 2022, 07:05 pm
Last modified: 01 August, 2022, 07:08 pm

Related News

  • 7 new Covid-19 cases reported in 24hrs
  • Covid hospitals in Chattogram face ICU, testing kit crisis amid rising infections
  • DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Tourist surge raises fresh Covid-19 concerns in Rangamati
  • Covid-19 is back but these 5 simple habits can still keep you safe

'Living with Covid': Where the pandemic could go next

Reuters
01 August, 2022, 07:05 pm
Last modified: 01 August, 2022, 07:08 pm
'Living with Covid': Where the pandemic could go next

As the third winter of the coronavirus pandemic looms in the northern hemisphere, scientists are warning weary governments and populations alike to brace for more waves of Covid-19.

In the United States alone, there could be up to a million infections a day this winter, Chris Murray, head of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent modeling group at the University of Washington that has been tracking the pandemic, told Reuters. That would be around double the current daily tally.

Across the United Kingdom and Europe, scientists predict a series of Covid waves, as people spend more time indoors during the colder months, this time with nearly no masking or social distancing restrictions in place.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

However, while cases may surge again in the coming months, deaths and hospitalizations are unlikely to rise with the same intensity, the experts said, helped by vaccination and booster drives, previous infection, milder variants and the availability of highly effective Covid treatments.

"The people who are at greatest risk are those who have never seen the virus, and there's almost nobody left," said Murray.

These forecasts raise new questions about when countries will move out of the Covid emergency phase and into a state of endemic disease, where communities with high vaccination rates see smaller outbreaks, possibly on a seasonal basis.

Many experts had predicted that transition would begin in early 2022, but the arrival of the highly mutated Omicron variant of coronavirus disrupted those expectations.

"We need to set aside the idea of 'is the pandemic over?'" said Adam Kucharski, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He and others see Covid morphing into an endemic threat that still causes a high burden of disease.

"Someone once told me the definition of endemicity is that life just gets a bit worse," he added.

The potential wild card remains whether a new variant will emerge that out-competes currently dominant Omicron subvariants.

If that variant also causes more severe disease and is better able to evade prior immunity, that would be the "worst-case scenario," according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) Europe report.

"All scenarios (with new variants) indicate the potential for a large future wave at a level that is as bad or worse than the 2020/2021 epidemic waves," said the report, based on a model from Imperial College of London.

Confounding factors

Many of the disease experts interviewed by Reuters said that making forecasts for Covid has become much harder, as many people rely on rapid at-home tests that are not reported to government health officials, obscuring infection rates.

BA.5, the Omicron subvariant that is currently causing infections to peak in many regions, is extremely transmissible, meaning that many patients hospitalized for other illnesses may test positive for it and be counted among severe cases, even if Covid-19 is not the source of their distress.

Scientists said other unknowns complicating their forecasts include whether a combination of vaccination and Covid infection – so-called hybrid immunity – is providing greater protection for people, as well as how effective booster campaigns may be.

"Anyone who says they can predict the future of this pandemic is either overconfident or lying," said David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Experts also are closely watching developments in Australia, where a resurgent flu season combined with Covid is overwhelming hospitals. They say it is possible that Western nations could see a similar pattern after several quiet flu seasons.

"If it happens there, it can happen here. Let's prepare for a proper flu season," said John McCauley, director of the Worldwide Influenza Centre at the Francis Crick Institute in London.

The WHO has said each country still needs to approach new waves with all the tools in the pandemic armory – from vaccinations to interventions, such as testing and social distancing or masking.

Israel's government recently halted routine Covid testing of travelers at its international airport, but is ready to resume the practice "within days" if faced with a major surge, said Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of the country's public health service.

"When there is a wave of infections, we need to put masks on, we need to test ourselves," she said. "That's living with Covid."

Top News / World+Biz

Covid / Covid -19 / Covid -19 2nd wave

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Fire of Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot is seen following the Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
    Israel and Iran strike at each other as Trump says conflict can be easily ended
  • The moment before Abu Sayeed was shot during a clash between police and protesters in front of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur on Tuesday, 16 July 2024. Screengrab from video
    ICT extends deadline for Abu Sayed murder probe by one month
  • AMM Nasir Uddin. File photo: Collected.
    EC moving forward with polls preparations, committed to ensuring level playing field: CEC

MOST VIEWED

  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • Fighter jet. Photo: AFP
    3 F-35 fighter jets downed, two Israeli pilots in custody, claims Iranian media
  • Infographic: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Vehicles were seen stuck on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway due to a traffic jam stretching 15 kilometres on 14 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    15km traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway as post-Eid rush continues
  • Ahsan H Mansur. TBS sketch
    BB governor meets global litigation funders to mobilise $100m for tracing stolen assets
  • Burnt out cars and damaged buildings are all that’s left of this street in Ramat Gan Credit: AP
    Iran threatens to strike US, UK, and French bases if they help defend Israel

Related News

  • 7 new Covid-19 cases reported in 24hrs
  • Covid hospitals in Chattogram face ICU, testing kit crisis amid rising infections
  • DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Tourist surge raises fresh Covid-19 concerns in Rangamati
  • Covid-19 is back but these 5 simple habits can still keep you safe

Features

Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

1d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

3d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

4d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

6d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Ishraque seeks chief adviser's intervention for oath as Dhaka South mayor

Ishraque seeks chief adviser's intervention for oath as Dhaka South mayor

1h | TBS Today
Israel asked US to join military campaign against Iran, but US rejects request

Israel asked US to join military campaign against Iran, but US rejects request

1h | TBS World
Iran-Israel direct confrontation; war looms in the Middle East

Iran-Israel direct confrontation; war looms in the Middle East

3h | TBS World
Israel-Iran conflict: Which way is the global economy turning?

Israel-Iran conflict: Which way is the global economy turning?

5h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net