The French government’s top advisor on Covid-19 warned Friday that a new variant of the disease would “probably” emerge in the winter months this year.
The country is currently battling an unprecedented spike in new cases caused by the more infectious Delta variant, which was first recorded in India.
“We will probably have another variant arrive during the winter,” Jean-Francois Delfraissy, head of the French government’s scientific council, told the BFM news channel.
He said that he could not predict the consequences, or whether it would be more dangerous, adding that Covid-19 had “relatively limited” capacities to mutate.
The infectious diseases specialist urged French people to return to social distancing and mask-wearing, and said a “return to normal” would probably be in 2022 or 2023.
The big challenge for the next couple of years will be how are we going to co-exist, with two worlds: countries that are vaccinated and those that are not,” he said.
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