COVID looks set to see seasonal surges in both summer and winter over the coming years, Professor Luke O’Neill has warned.

Ireland has seen something of a COVID surge this summer – with cases hitting a weekly peak of 1,087 at the end of June.

The number of cases has fallen in the weeks since, hitting 761 at the end of July.

Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalised hit a summer peak of 486 in June and has since fallen to 316.

In the US, COVID cases are now in the rise in 35 states and territories according to the US Centres for Disease Control.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation is warning of a five-fold increases in COVID hospitalisations across Europe in the last two months.

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Trinity Professor Luke O’Neill said the big question facing scientists is whether or not COVID will have two seasonal peaks every year.

“Most viruses become seasonal,” he said. “Now it looks as if Covid will be summer and winter.

“So both seasons will see surges and they are wondering why that is.

“There is a big surge at the moment in the US and there has been one here, [although] it's tapering out a bit at the moment.

“But certainly, we've seen a surge in Ireland and in the US in summertime and it's unusual for a respiratory virus to spread in that way and they're wondering why.”

A person is administered the COVID vaccine. Image: ANP / Alamy Stock Photo

He said there are a number of reasons why COVID could surge in the summer.

“Big crowds gathering is an obvious one as we see in Paris at the moment and that's obvious because the more people that get together [the more there is],” he said.

“But the one they think is important is air conditioning.

“You see, we all go back inside, especially in America; there's a heat wave and you're back indoors again and it's like the winter kind of.

“The air conditioning is encouraging people to stay indoors and that might be another reason why it's spreading.”

Either way, he said, there is a “clear spike at the moment” – and that looks likely to continue in future summers.

Meanwhile, the most recent FLiRT variant of COVID has now spawned its own LB.1 descendant, which has become the most common variant circulating in Europe.

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