Originally posted by
Chris
Good question, but I don't think there's any definite answer yet.
The general idea with Novel viruses, such as this one, is that due to evolution, over time they mutate to be less deadly, but more contagious. It is to the advantage of any virus that it evolves in a way that allows it to spend the maximum amount of time in as many host bodies as possible. This would indicate that the new UK strain will become the dominant one globally, until another one comes along.
It is scary stuff, the tier 4 restrictions they have just introduced in large parts of the UK are essentially wartime measures. The UK is being cut off from the rest of Europe, and this is on top of a no-deal Brexit which will happen in a matter of days. Things are bleak over here in MittelEuropa, but the UK looks like its bearing the brunt of this pandemic.
Meanwhile, I'm reading that Thailand, a semi-third-world country, with high levels of corruption, government incompetence and a pretty thread-bare healthcare system has only had 5000 Covid cases so far during the whole year, even though they were the first country to be hit after China.
What the actual fuck and what the hell am I doing in frosty, locked down Europe, when I could be sipping cocktails on a (deserted) Thai beach if I had made slighty different life choices a few years ago...