A top professor has warned Australians will battle Covid outbreaks ‘indefinitely’, as the country reaches the five-year anniversary of the onset of the pandemic.

Variant LP.8.1 was identified as the main cause of large outbreaks overseas in late 2024 and early 2025, and was responsible for three in five Covid cases in the UK in March.

In February, the World Health Organisation identified the strain as one of two increasing on a global scale, though the risk to public health was classified as low. Continues…