The creator of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has said that the next coronaviruses could be even more lethal than the current ones.
Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert warned that the next one could be worse because of the Omicron variant, which has been detected in more than 30 countries.
The travel rules would be too late to prevent a wave of infections if the new variant was to spread quickly in the UK, as was told to ministers by one of their scientific advisers. The UK Health Security Agency reported 86 new Omicron cases on Sunday night.
Gilbert said that despite the destructive nature of the two-year epidemic that had already killed more than 260 million people, the next one might be more deadly.
She said that this will not be the last time a virus threatens lives. The next one could be worse. It could be more lethal.
The research that led to the development of the Covid vaccine must not be lost, said Gilbert, a professor at the University of Oxford.
She said that the economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness. We must invest in people, research, manufacturing and institutions to defend against the spread of diseases.
Gilbert said that the new variant of the Omicron virus contained some of the same genes that increase transmissibility as the previous variant. She said that reduced protection against infections does not necessarily mean reduced protection against disease and death. Gilbert said that they should be cautious and take steps to slow down the spread of the new variant.
All passengers arriving in the UK will have to show proof of a negative test no later than 48 hours before departure. Nigeria will be added to the travel red list on Monday.
The new travel rules were too late to make a difference, according to Prof Mark Woolhouse of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling. He told The Andrew Marr Show that it may be a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
If there is community transmission in the UK, then it will drive a next wave. The cases that are being imported are important, we want to detect those and isolated any positive cases that we find, as we would for any case anywhere. It is too late to make a difference to the course of the Omicron wave.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official, told CNN that it was too early to draw definitive conclusions about the new variant of the disease.
There were more than 42,000 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK as of 9am on Sunday. 54 people died after testing positive for coronaviruses.
The president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said that the National Health Service would be in a difficult position if the Omicron variant caused a surge in hospital admissions. Hospitals were struggling to cope. If the new variant becomes a thing in terms of numbers and admissions we are going to be in a very difficult position.
The chair of the Covid public inquiry is expected to be announced within the next fortnight, after the government promised to have it in place by Christmas. The MPs want the inquiry to look at the effect rule-breaking by public figures had on public compliance.
Keir Starmer made his strongest intervention to date to criticize those who are resisting taking the vaccine after the Guardian reported that unvaccinated patients are dominating the intensive care units.
The leader of the Labour Party said that people who are unvaccinated should think about their decision.
He said that medics are seeing too many hospital beds and that the health service is being taken over by those who don't get the vaccine.
