COVID is like a “forest fire” which will flare up in parts of Britain for years to come, health chiefs reckon.
Boffins believe there are four stages to Covid – full blaze, little fires, smoke and cinders.
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The UK is currently in the grip of a “full blaze” pandemic.
But once the vaccine is rolled out, they think the virus will mainly hover between the final two stages of cinders and smoke with “mini flare ups” in certain areas.
This may be triggered by a new, mutant strain emerging which could need new versions of the vaccine.
The country’s vast test and trace system will be “surged” to these hotspots to douse the coronavirus fire, they say.
Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has previously warned the killer bug could tear through communities like a blaze if they are not vaccinated.
He has said: “If one particular community remains unvaccinated, then the virus will seek them out and it will go through that community like wildfire.
“And that’s not something any of us wish to see.
“Which is why we are spending a lot of time and a lot of resource in this area.”
Scientists and ministers have both warned that coronavirus will probably not be wiped out.
Instead, it is expected to become a virus like the flu, and Brits will have regular vaccination jabs to protect against it.
