On Wednesday, the international health body, the World Health Organisation warned the world as it hinted that COVID-19 may become endemic like HIV. It also warned against any predictions of how long it could keep circulating.
Mike Ryan, the emergency expert at the World Health Organisation addressed an online briefing and said,
“It is important to put this on the table: this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away. I think it is important we are realistic and I don’t think anyone can predict when this disease will disappear. I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be.”
The world has some control, says Mike Ryan
However, he did not rule over the world’s control over the disease. He said the world can still control how it can cope with the disease. Even if there is a vaccine, he adds, it would take a massive effort from the world to make the disease disappear. He said this in the wake of hundreds of trials being conducted across the world in order to develop a vaccine. Some have even progressed to clinical trials. While experts have not expressed difficulties in finding a vaccine for COVID-19, Ryan points out that vaccine for measles exist even as it is not eliminated.
Mike Ryan also believes the world should focus on a significant control of the virus in order to lower the risk of the disease. This, he says, should be a high priority at regional, national, and even global levels. The director of the World Health Organisation, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added,
“The trajectory is in our hands, and it’s everybody’s business, and we should all contribute to stopping this pandemic.”
The governments across the globe are now contemplating to reopen their economies and finding a way to live with COVID-19. The virus has so far infected 4.3 million people and has caused 291,000 deaths. Maria van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist at WHO said that the world will take some time to move over this pandemic.
Source: The Times of India
