Coronavirus: Don’t bet on Covid-19 vaccine, says world health guru David Nabarro

The threat of the coronavirus may linger “for the foreseeable future” because there’s no guarantee a vaccine can be developed, a leading expert on the disease has said, according to the UK’s Observer reported.

David Nabarro, professor of global health at London’s Imperial College and an envoy for the World Health Organization on Covid-19, offered the warning as the number of UK hospital deaths from the virus surpassed 15,000.

“Some viruses are very, very difficult when it comes to vaccine development - so for the foreseeable future, we are going to have to find ways to go about our lives with this virus as a constant threat,” he said.

That means quarantining individuals with symptoms and their contacts, protecting older people and ensuring hospital capacity for coronavirus cases, he said. “That is going to be the new normal for us all,” he said.

The latest toll doesn’t include deaths in care homes and the community. Critics have accused the British government of reacting too slowly to the pandemic.