The Coronavirus may never go away and populations around theworld will have to learn to live with it, the World Health Organization warnedWednesday.
As some countries around the world begin gradually easinglockdown restrictions imposed in a bid to stop the novel coronavirus fromspreading, the WHO said it may never be wiped out entirely.
"We have a new virus entering the human population forthe first time and therefore it is very hard to predict when we will prevailover it," said Michael Ryan, the WHO's emergencies director.
Dr Mike Ryan, of the World Health Organisation (WHO), tellsa press conference: "We should not be waiting to see if opening oflockdowns has worked by counting bodies in morgues.
"This virus may become just another endemic virus inour communities and this virus may never go away," he told a virtual pressconference in Geneva.
"HIV has not gone away — but we have come to termswith the virus."
More than half of humanity has been put under some form oflockdown since the coronavirus crisis began.
But the WHO warned there was no way to guarantee that easingthe restrictions would not trigger a second wave of infections.
"Many countries would like to get out of the differentmeasures," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"But our recommendation is still the alert at anycountry should be at the highest level possible."
