COVID-19 to stay longer than expected, experts say

Washington: As researchers are pulling out all stops to come up with a vaccine against the COVID-19, epidemiologists suggest that the virus is in for a prolonged stay on the face of the earth.

A report published in The Washington Post recently said that the novel coronavirus is going to stay for a long time and might scale down to an endemic like HIV, measles and chickenpox.

The US daily quoted Sarah Cobey, an epidemiologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago saying that the virus is here to stay and people have to learn how to live with it safely.

Highlighting that most people have remained susceptible to the infection so far, experts believe that COVID-19 will count next in the list of four existing endemic coronaviruses. In the due course, the lethal strand of the virus might turn relatively benign and cause milder infections, considering that the human immune system would have a memory of it. However, this will take quite some time.

The report also stated that social harmony will be muddled once a vaccine is prepared as its demand will outnumber its supply. However, this could be curbed only if the international community succeeded to work with co-operation.