Many, including the UK government, had hoped life would go “back to normal” in 2021.
But after the emergence of what some have described as the “nastiest” variant yet, the pandemic will be far from over in the New Year.
Sky News has asked five experts what their predictions are for COVID and 2022 – and here a virologist, restaurant owner, social psychologist, economist and GP give their their views.
The scientist
Professor Andrew Easton, virologist at the University of Warwick
Pic: University of Warwick
Some elements of Omicron are still not yet clear.
But even if this variant causes less severe disease, if the number of people infected continues to go up as we are seeing now, so too will the numbers going to hospital and dying.
Many people will be severely affected by it, either from getting seriously ill or not being able to work, particularly in places like healthcare – but it will cause problems in various sectors.
In the more immediate term, I think it’s very likely there will be further…
