Just like HIV and measles, COVID-19 may never go away – WHO predicts gloom
As many countries across the world continue to struggle with the spread of COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that the pandemic may never go away any time soon.
The global health agency made this known during a media briefing in Geneva where Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies warned that the disease may join the mix of viruses like HIV that kill people around the world every year.
“This virus just may become another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away. HIV hasn’t gone away,” Ryan said. “I’m not comparing the two diseases but I think it is important that we’re realistic. I don’t think anyone can predict when or if this disease will disappear.”
With more than 4.3 million confirmed cases globally, the trajectory of COVID-19 has been on the rise and it’s fast-becoming the most pervasive pandemic in recent history. To cushion the effect of the virus, most countries have been on either partial or total lockdown in the past two months. This has impacted negatively on both social and economic activities, with huge disruptions to people’s daily lives.
But Ryan noted that we may have a shot at eliminating the virus with the availability of an effective vaccine. And even at that, he counters, the “disease may settle into a long-term problem or it may not”.
Africa, at the moment, is the least affected region in the world, but the WHO in an earlier statement said this may soon change. It estimated that about 190,000 Africans could die of COVID-19 in the first year while those affected might reach 44 million if containment measures fail.
There are more than 75,000 confirmed cases across the continent as of May 15, including 2,563 deaths and 27,205 recoveries. South Africa is leading the tally with 13,524 cases while Egypt follows closely with 11,228. Nigeria has recorded over 5,000 cases with 167 deaths and 1,180 recoveries.
