Coronavirus May Never Go Away Says WHO

Mike Ryan, Head of World Health Organisation's (WHO) Health Emergencies programme told media persons on Wednesday that the novel coronavirus raging through continents may never go away and will become a long-term aspect of life which has to be managed. In other words, it can never be eradicated on a permanent basis.

"This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away," Mike Ryan said at a press conference. He added that the virus related to HIV-AIDS did not go away but that humanity reconciled itself to it and found therapeutic and prevention methods.

The WHO official pointed out that people do not feel as scared of HIV now, as they did earlier.

Mike Ryan put a dampener to universal expectations that the development of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus would bring global suffering and widespread economic disaster on account of COVID-19 to a quick end. The WHO official also stated that it is difficult to predict when a good vaccine could be developed calling it a shot at the moon.

The senior WHO official also said that it is only when infected people become immune or resistant to the virus and when enough people have had it and fewer are left to spread it that managing an outbreak becomes more possible. He added that it is difficult to predict how long that would take.

Dr Mike Ryan also pointed out that currently the number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 is relatively low and added that the only human disease that has been eradicated completely is smallpox referring to the efficacy of vaccines.