COVID-19 trends will be more difficult to predict in 2023 and beyond

The complex interplay of COVID-19 variants, vaccination and natural immunity, as well as a reduction in surveillance, makes the process of modelling more difficult, says this academic. Early in 2020, the scientific community concentrated on identifying important factors that may be utilised to create predictions about the severity and scope of the virus's transmission. Now, that procedure is far more challenging and less predictable because to the complicated interactions between COVID-19 mutations, vaccination, and natural immunity. However, this does not imply that we should become complacent. Although the percentage of infected individuals has fluctuated over time, it remained around 1.25 percent (or one in 80) in England for the full year of 2022. The COVID-19 virus is still very much a part of our world, and individuals continue to contract it. In the UK, there are approximately 3.4 persons who self-report having lengthy COVID symptoms.