The coronavirus should be viewed as a 'severe flu' that will be with us into the future.

That's according to immunologist Professor Luke O'Neill, who says this will become another chapter in medical text books.

It comes as high numbers of COVID-19 cases and staff absences impact the health service.

Prof O'Neill told Pat Kenny: "It's just another infectious disease that's with us, basically, it won't go away.

"It's like TB infecting humans many hundreds of years ago, became a new disease, and then TB was there forever really.

"These coronaviruses will be with us into the future - including SARS-CoV-2 - so now the talk is how do we prepare for this and make sure we can keep it under control?"

He says an estimation by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of COVID-19 surges every three to four months is "especially pessimistic".

"Can you imagine into the future that we keep getting these surges, and that maybe the case, what can we do to mitigate?

"In every medical textbook there'll be a section on infectious diseases, there'll be a chapter on this virus now".

A teenage girl receives a dose of Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Barcelona, Spain in December 2021. Picture by: Sipa USA / Alamy Stock Photo

Prof O'Neill says those who catch it and are vaccinated should treat it as a flu.

"The vaccines have made it a bit like a severe flu... before the vaccines, it was much more dangerous than flu.

"It was 10-times the infection fatality rate in one famous study that was done, that was a bit on the high side, but certainly it was much more dangerous than flu.

"Vaccines bring the immune system into play and therefore the danger becomes like a very, very severe flu.

"We're still not fully sure if it's slightly worse than a severe flu or slightly less, but it's in that range.

"You've got to think of it now, if you're vaccinated and you catch it - or a new variant that comes along - you'll have potentially a very severe time with it.

"And of course that means hospitalisation, and our current concern is the increased numbers ending up in hospital.

"But at the moment we have to view it as a serve flu that will be with us into the future".