US health chief: Second wave of virus next winter could be worse

A second wave of the novel coronavirus in the US could be even more destructive because it will likely collide with the beginning of flu season, one of the United States’ top health officials says.

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calls on Americans to use the coming months to prepare — and get their flu shots.

“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” he is quoted as saying in an interview with the Washington Post published late Tuesday.

“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” he says.

The US has recorded more than 800,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University, with 44,845 deaths — the most reported of any country.

AFP

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