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A year into the Covid crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week announced her country was facing what amounts to \u2018a new pandemic\u2019. \u201cThe mutation from Great Britain has taken over,\u201d she warned. \u201cIt is clearly more lethal, more contagious, and contagious longer.\u201d Even in countries where attempts to vaccinate the population are continuing at pace, the threat from mutant variants that have shown a greater ability than the original pathogen to evade vaccines is threatening any recovery. The US Centers for Disease Control this week warned that variants now dominate cases in California, and that increased air travel for spring break - combined with a rise in the number of states easing mask and social distancing mandates - may result in another surge. The UK hopes to curb the spread of variants as part of its roadmap to reopening, but in the last week an adviser to Boris Johnson\u2019s government warned that any return to international travel was \u201cunlikely\u201d given the threat new mutations pose. So how long will Covid variants rule our lives and what can be done to curb their influence? Paul Henley is joined by a panel of experts.