The new coronavirus may “never go away” and populations around the world will have to “learn to live with it,” the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.
As some countries around the world begin gradually easing lockdown restrictions imposed in a bid to stop the novel coronavirus from spreading, the WHO said it may never be wiped out entirely.
The novel Coronavirus could become endemic like HIV, the WHO said warning against any attempt to predict how long it would keep circulating, but called for a “massive effort” to counter it.
“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,” WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan told an online briefing.
“I think it is important we are realistic and I don’t think anyone can predict when this disease will disappear,” he added. “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.”
“HIV has not gone away — but we have come to terms with the virus.”
The virus first emerged in Wuhan in China late last year and has since infected more than 4.2 million people and killed nearly 300,000 worldwide.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “The trajectory is in our hands, and it’s everybody’s business, and we should all contribute to stop this pandemic.”
“Many countries would like to get out of the different measures,” he said and added, “But our recommendation is still the alert at any country should be at the highest level possible.”
Ryan added that there was a “long, long way to go” on the path to returning to normal, insisting that countries would have to stay the course.
“There is some magical thinking going on that lockdowns work perfectly and that unlocking lockdowns will go great. Both are fraught with dangers,” the Irish epidemiologist said.
More than 100 potential vaccines are being developed, including several in clinical trials, but experts have underscored the difficulties of finding vaccines that are effective against coronaviruses.
Ryan noted that vaccines exist for other illnesses, such as measles, that have not been eliminated.
He said “very significant control” of the virus was required in order to lower the assessment of risk, which he said remained high at the “national, regional and global levels”.
(With agency inputs)