The World Health Organization's (WHO) health emergency chief, Dr. Mike Ryan, recently gave a warning from Geneva on Thursday, May 14, saying that "the coronavirus may become just another endemic virus our communities and it may never go away."
He also said that it was impossible to put an exact time frame on when this pandemic would end.
WHO: 'The virus may never go away'
The WHO warned that mankind may have to learn how to live with the novel coronavirus just like how the world has adjusted to HIV.
Dr. Mike Ryan said in a recent Geneva press conference, according to reports from Daily Mail, "It's 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, we've come to terms with the virus and we have found the therapies and we found the prevention methods and people don't feel as scared as they did before and we're offering life to people with HIV, long healthy lives to people with HIV."
He also added that he was not trying to compare both diseases, but it was to simply illustrate that no one can ever predict when or if this disease will even disappear. Ryan was trying to expand on the point when it comes to medical health experts and politicians who have been giving estimates of a year before obtaining a vaccine.
The numbers are relatively low
Ryan also explained that the number of people who have been infected on a global scale is relatively low even as the numbers have skyrocketed to more than 4.3 million cases worldwide.
Looking at the United States, Donald Trump has been very eager for a quick resumption of economic activity and is always against the advice of his own health officials as he struggles to jumpstart the world's biggest economy before the election in November.
In the United Kingdom, a very cautious approach is being adopted and Chancellor Rishi Sunak has already pledged to continue with a furloughing scheme. Employees on the said scheme will receive at least 80% of wages up to a massive £2,500 or $3,000 until the month of October.
"There are more than 100 potential vaccines for the virus in development, but Dr. Ryan noted that even with a vaccine the virus may never be wiped out. He gave the example of measles. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged people to continue in the fight to stop the spread of the disease," The Daily Mail report added.
