New Covid variant, same media scare stories

The UK is facing a surge in Covid-19 infections and hospitalisations this summer as a new variant seems “to evade immunity”. So went the reports this weekend about the new “FLiRT” variant, which is fast becoming the dominant Covid strain.

If this sounds a little familiar, your memory is not playing tricks on you. It is only a few months ago that many of the same outlets were reporting how “the UK could soon see its highest-ever rate of Covid infections thanks to the new variant JN.1”.

Oddly enough, just as those reports were circulating, the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) was reporting that the (relatively modest) winter surge in cases was already receding. Indeed, hospitalisations from Covid peaked at the end of December 2023 and decreased steadily for the next couple of months.