WHO: COVID-19 cannot become an endemic disease yet

The director of WHO’s emergency programs, Michael Ryan, said it would be a mistake to think that, when the pandemic COVID-19 gradually cool down and become endemic diseaseall problems will be solved.

According to Ryan, COVID-19 has not yet subsided or become a seasonal disease, but the disease “still causes volatility and has the potential to lead to large outbreaks”.

Mr. Ryan also stressed that endemic disease does not mean that all challenges will end, citing tuberculosis and malaria as endemic diseases that still kill millions of people every year.

Sharing the above view, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Technical Team Leader on COVID-19 said that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is still spreading strongly in the world, causing a large number of cases. death and cause serious consequences in many ways.

Mr. Michael Ryan, Director of Emergency Programs of WHO. (Photo: AP)

According to Mr. Ryan, usually epidemics will subside and develop endemic, focusing on a specific segment of the population. Epidemics can often turn into childhood illnesses, he said, similar to measles and diphtheria, because children’s bodies are often more susceptible to viruses. However, if vaccination rates fall, as has happened with measles vaccination, outbreaks could return.

Last week, WHO recorded the lowest number of deaths related to COVID-19 disease since the beginning of the epidemic. However, Mr. Ryan said, this death toll is still relatively high. Therefore, he called on countries to continue to raise their vigilance and be ready to respond to the risk of a new epidemic wave when new variants of SARS-CoV-2 continue to appear.

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