Photo:jcomp
Just recently, World Health Organization (WHO) officials reported that COVID-19 may never actually go away and will just become another endemic virus in our communities, similar to how HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is still around, even decades later.
Now, it is forecasted that it will likely take four or five years for the coronavirus to be truly under control.
“Let’s say we have a vaccine and we’re able to cover the world’s entire population, which may take, I don’t know, three years, four years. So, I would say in a four- to five-year timeframe we could be looking at controlling this.” Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO’s chief scientist, told the Financial Times’ Global Boardroom webinar on Wednesday (13 May).
According to her, the vaccine would be the “best way out” of the global pandemic but warned the public that the pandemic could even “potentially get worse” if the virus mutates and renders the established vaccine ineffective.
Another panellist at the webinar, Peter Piot, a professor of global health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine also gave his input on whether or not COVID-19 would ever actually be eradicated.
“Only smallpox has been eliminated and eradicated as a human disease,” said Piot.
“We will have to find a way, as societies, to live with this,” Piot added, suggesting that societies would eventually shift from implementing broad lockdowns to more targeted approaches in dealing with the containment of the virus.
As countries anticipate the reopening of their economies after months of being on lockdown, Swaminathan warned of a few risk factors that would need to be considered.
One of which includes the number of cases against the capacity of health care systems as well as high-risk areas like nursing homes and places of large gatherings, like sporting events and churches that must be paid special attention to.
As for now, let’s all adhere to the social distancing rules and do our best to protect ourselves and our loved ones against the virus. Stay safe, everyone!
By: Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya
