“Just like HIV, Covid-19 may never go away” – WHO warns

The World Health Organisation, WHO has warned that Covid-19 just like HIV may never go away, noting that controlling the virus will require great effort, even after a vaccine might have been developed for the novel virus.

WHO Emergencies Director, Dr. Mike Ryan, gave this warning on yesterday during a media call and further cautioned against trying to predict when the virus would disappear.

“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. HIV has not gone away, but we have come to terms with the virus.

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,” Dr. Ryan said.

The emergencies director also said he does not believe anyone can predict when the virus will disappear.

Even after hinting that there are currently over 100 potential vaccines in development, Dr. Ryan recalled there are other illnesses like measles, that still have not been completely eliminated despite the availability of their vaccines.

“The trajectory is in our hands, and it’s everybody’s business, and we should all contribute to stop this pandemic,” he concluded.

Source: Al Jazeera