World Health Organization on Tuesday has issued a caution about the Covid pandemic, stating that there may still be difficulties before the virus settles into a recognizable pattern.
In the backdrop of drastically curtailed testing, the WHO has received reports of more than 23,000 deaths and three million new cases in the last 28 days.
While the numbers are decreasing, “that’s still a lot of people dying and that’s still a lot of people getting sick”, WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.
According to him, respiratory viruses do not transition from a pandemic to an endemic phase but rather go to a low-activity state with the possibility for seasonal epidemic peaks.
“It’s much more likely that we’re going to see… a bumpy road to a more predictable pattern.”, stated Michael Ryan
The Covid-19 emergency committee, which meets every three months, is scheduled to meet in early May.
It will evaluate whether the virus still qualifies as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), which is the most serious level of alert the UN health agency can issue.
On January 30, 2020, with fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside of China, the WHO designated Covid-19 as a PHEIC.
However, the world did not suddenly spring into action until WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus referred to the condition as a pandemic in March 2020.
Ryan predicted that the virus will persist and continue to harm susceptible individuals’ respiratory systems, much like influenza.
“I would hope that as the emergency committee meets in May, they will have further positive advice to give Dr Tedros around their assessment of the trajectory of the pandemic and the existence or not of a PHEIC,” said Ryan.