On the two year anniversary of the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Australia, an infectious diseases physician says the battle isn’t over, but we’re “in a much better position than we were a year ago”.

Professor at the ANU Medical School, Peter Collignon, says COVID-19 will likely “be with us for years”.

He expects a spike in cases when schools resume next week, and a potentially concerning surge in cases this winter, but says the  individual and societal consequences are nowhere near as severe as they were in the early years of the virus.

“I unfortunately think we’ll see a uptick in cases come June, July or August. I don’t think it’ll be as bad or as high as the Omicron wave we’ve just seen, but I’d be surprised if we don’t see a kick up in cases and a kick up in hospitalisations,” Professor Collignon told Neil Mitchell.

Going forward, he expects COVID-19 will be able to be managed like other respiratory viruses.

“It will be predominantly a problem in winter, like just about every other respiratory virus, and yeah, look, we may get new variants,” he said.

“I’m hoping it’s no worse than a bad flu season.”

Press PLAY below to hear how Professor Collignon thinks the pandemic will progress from here