The World Health Organization on Wednesday said the novel coronavirus may never go away and that people will have to learn to live with it. The coronavirus disease has infected a total of 4,360,607 people in the world and 297,371 patients have died.
“This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away. HIV has not gone away but we have come to terms with the virus, we have found therapies and we have found the prevention methods and people don’t feel as scared as they did before,” Dr Michael Ryan, the world body’s emergencies director, stated at a virtual media briefing in Geneva.
Dr Ryan also said that it was difficult to predict when we will be able to prevail over the virus as it was the first time that a new virus has entered the human population.
Most countries imposed some form of lockdown to contain the spread of infection, with some of them gradually relaxing restrictions recently. However, the WHO has cautioned that there was no way to guarantee that easing the curbs would not lead to a second wave of Covid-19 infections.
“Many countries would like to get out of the different measures but our recommendation is still the alert at any country should be at the highest level possible,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Dr Ryan said there was still some time before normalcy returns, adding there was some magical thinking that lockdowns work perfectly and that unlocking lockdowns will go great.
Dr Michael Ryan also applauded the attacks on healthcare workers, stating over 35 quite serious episodes were recorded in April in 11 countries.
“Covid-19 is bringing out the best in us, but it’s also bringing out some of the worst.
“People feel empowered to take out their frustrations on individuals who are purely trying to help. These are senseless acts of violence and discrimination that must be resisted,” he said.
