Coronavirus variants will continue to reinfect people every two to four years and more mutations could emerge after the pandemic ends, an expert has claimed.
Professor of Medicine at the University of East Anglia, Paul Hunter, said it remains "very difficult to predict" how Covid-19 will mutate, though added future strains may not cause serious illness.
Three current variants have been identified by the World Health Organisation as a 'concern'.
They include the more transmissible Kent strain and those from South Africa and Brazil, which could be more resistant to vaccines.
The international health authority fears there could be significant implications if these become dominant.
Prof Hunter has urged Downing Street to monitor the spread of new mutations as the lifting of lockdown measures continues into the summer.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “We do know that new variants develop, that's very obvious, and some new variants spread and become dominant.
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“Many new variants just die out. This is to be expected, we know from other human coronaviruses that have been with us for decades, if not centuries, that these viruses gradually drift.
“Ultimately with the other human coronaviruses, we expect to get reinfected on average about every two to four years with the same virus.
“So we are likely to see that happen with coronavirus, and it doesn't mean that we will head towards a lot of very severe diseases.
“But it's been very difficult to predict exactly what will happen with coronaviruses as you never really know what each new variant will do.”
He added: “We do have to keep an eye on them and make sure they're not going to be undermining the roadmap.”
