Coronavirus Predicted to Last Until 2021 in the UK, With Almost 8 Million Hospitalized

• The report predicted that the virus will remain until spring next year.
• Around 80 percent will be affected, which is the worst case scenario.
• They are hopeful that treatment will be available by the time the virus “peaks” to lessen the number of cases and deaths.

This is the bleak prediction coming from a Public Health England (PHE) document which was sent to senior officials of UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The document reported that the pandemic will remain in the territory until spring of next year and that 80 percent of its population will be affected.

The briefing was sent to the NHS, which so far is already overstretched in terms of capacity and the effect on the health of medical staff working on the frontline.

The report is bracing for a worst-case scenario.

According to Dr. Susan Hopkins, a PHE lead official, they “used reasonable worse-case scenario figures, to restate the importance for people with symptoms to stay at home, including health care workers in order to reduce the spread of the virus.”

NHS reminds people of the importance of sanitizing one’s hands.

The 80 percent figure predicted is “the worst case scenario,” according to Chris Witty, the UK government’s chief medical officer.

He added that they expect that four or five people in the UK will get infected by the virus.

Paul Hunter, medicine professor from East Anglia University, said that people are going to be upset and worried when they hear that the COVID-19 can last for 12 months. But he also added that the “figure isn’t well appreciated or understood” and that he thinks the figure will decrease in the summer, towards the end of June, and then come back around November, which is the behavior of a usual seasonal flu.

He thinks that the virus “will be around forever, but become less severe over time, as immunity builds up.”

The PHE document also contained several warnings. It suggested that an estimated 500,000 out of the five million people working in essential services and critical infrastructure will become sick during the epidemic’s month-long peak.

In order to ease the strain on the NHS, the planned strategy is to delay the virus’ peak and slow down its spread to stretch it out over a longer time period. This is what is referred to as “flattening the curve.”

They are also hopeful that treatments will be available during the “peak”time, which will lead to the numbers of cases and deaths to drop until it reaches a fairly low level.