Beta is believed to spread more easily than the original version of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, and there is evidence vaccines work less well against it, leading some countries to restrict travel to and from South Africa.Richard Lessells, an infectious disease specialist and one of the authors of the research on C.1.2, said its emergence tells us"this pandemic is far from over and that this virus is still exploring ways to potentially get better at infecting us".
Genomic sequencing data from South Africa show the C.1.2 variant was still nowhere near displacing the dominant Delta variant in July, the latest month for which a large number of samples was available.
I'm not sure how anyone can even suggest that they thought that the Pandemic was anywhere near being over That's akin to saying worldwide poverty has not yet been eradicated.
Did the virus told him it is exploring ways to potentially get better at infecting us?