Guwahati:
As the Governments across the world have started contemplating easing lockdown restrictions, grim tidings have been brought by the World Health Organization (WHO) which says that the deadly coronavirus that has claimed 298,296 lives across the world, might never ever go away.
On Wednesday, WHO emergencies director Dr Mike Ryan set the alarm bells ringing when he no one can predict when the virus will "disappear". Even if a vaccine is found, Ryan said, controlling the virus will require a "massive effort".
Dr Ryan told a virtual press conference from Geneva that the virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, adding that "this virus may never go away,"
Ryan pointed to another virus that humans have learned to live with "The HIV has not gone away, but we have come to terms with the virus", he said.
Although there are currently more than 100 potential vaccines in development, Dr Ryan pointed out that illnesses such as measles still haven't been eliminated despite there being vaccines for them.
Weighing in on the lockdown, Ryan said that there is some "magical thinking" going on that lockdowns work perfectly and that unlocking lockdowns will go great. "Both are fraught with dangers", he warned. Meanwhile, WHO Boss Tedros has recommended that the "alert at any country should be at the highest level possible."
Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that "effort" will be needed if humans beings are to bring the virus under control.
The Director-General said that it is "everybody's business" all should contribute to stop this pandemic.
At the same time, WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove said that "it is going to take some time" to come out of this pandemic and everyone should put that in their mindsets.
The UN meanwhile, urging Government to make "mental health considerations", warned that the pandemic is causing widespread distress to the world population, especially in countries without proper mental infrastructure.