Next variant “will probably be even less serious and more transmissible”

The next variant to take hold in Portugal after Omicron will probably be even less serious in terms of the illness it causes, and more transmissible. This was the message this morning from pandemic ‘expert’ and mathematician Henrique Barros who told the ‘status report’ meeting with the government at Infarmed that there is absolutely “no reason for us to continue reasoning in terms of the number of cases” as there is “a clear dissociation between the number of cases and their severity”. Vaccinations have without doubt “changed our lives”, he said, insisting nonetheless, that it is still too soon to say the pandemic is behind us.