Follow RT on Britain’s chief Covid-19 genome sequencing expert has said surveillance for new variants and international co-ordination must be a priority going forward, adding that the UK is on alert for any mutations of the Delta variant. Speaking to Reuters on Monday, Sharon Peacock, chair of the Covid-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium, said that the path back to “business as usual” will be a long one, especially as new variants of the deadly virus emerge. Peacock noted that the uneven deployment of vaccines around the world was likely to prolong the return to pre-pandemic norms. “I see that as quite a long journey. So it’s not going to be one day that we wake up and say right, we’re going to live with Covid-19 and everything’s okay. I think there’s still a lot of groundwork to be done,” she noted.