Finnish medical experts believe COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, may never become an ordinary seasonal flu, Helsinki newspaper Ilta-Sanomat reported on Wednesday.
Quoting Ilkka Julkunen, professor of virology at the University of Turku, the article states that SARS-CoV-2 is clearly different from other seasonal influenza-causing coronaviruses.
“I find it unlikely that the virus will change so drastically. I don’t think the coronavirus will become less dangerous for at least a few more years,” he said.
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is widely considered to have less chance of causing a serious infection requiring hospitalization, however Mr Julkunen and Olli Vapalahti, professor of zoonotic virology at the University of Helsinki, agree that Omicron is not harmless.
In Finland, for example, more people have died from Omicron than from all the previous variants combined, according to Julkunen.
By November 2021, when the Omicron variant began to take off, around 1,200 people had died of COVID-19 in Finland. Currently, the toll of the coronavirus in this country exceeds 3,000 deaths.
It’s misleading to describe Omicron as a milder variant, says Vapalahti. It is possible that this virus causes less severe symptoms in a population with higher levels of immunity due to the number of vaccinations and previous infections, he added.
The number of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization in Finland has gradually increased to record highs as the immunological protection provided by two or three doses of vaccine wanes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned in late January that the next variant of SARS-CoV-2 might be even more contagious than Omicron.
Since the beginning of this year, a growing number of scientists around the world have estimated that COVID-19 may never become a seasonal flu but will in all likelihood remain a disease causing severe symptoms and death, in particular in older populations.
The virus mutates to form new variants all the time, with each variant becoming more contagious than its predecessor, Julkunen explained.
Two different viruses can produce new combinations inside the same cell, observed Mr. Vapalahti, recalling that the virus was still very powerful”.
“Recombinant viruses can also arise when two different viruses are found in the same cell. Genetic exchanges can then occur, producing new variants. This has already been observed between the Delta and Omicron variants and between the two Omicron variants in Finland,” Vapalahti said.
However, high levels of immunity due to vaccination and previous infection reduce the chances of severe consequences from COVID-19, the professors pointed out.
