The "direction of travel" for Covid variants is that they will hopefully become less severe, a leading expert has said.
Professor Andrew Hayward, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told Times Radio it "doesn't do the virus any good" to increase in severity, though new variants may prove to be even more transmissible than Omicron.
He said that any new variant would need to "out-compete Omicron" through increased transmissibility or escape from immunity, and not through changes in severity.
