World needs to prepare for second or third wave of coronavirus - WHO

World needs to prepare for second or third wave of coronavirus – WHO

May 02, 2020 News

– disease could be around for next two years

World Health Organization’s (WHO) Europe Director Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge has warned that countries need to prepare for a “second or third wave” of Covid-19.

Hans Kluge

He explained that until a vaccine is developed, countries must expect another hit by the virus.
“If the first wave is gone…we have bought the time to prepare for a second or third wave, particularly if there is no vaccine…It was vital for countries to prepare for future outbreaks once the first peak had been reached,” he said during a virtual media briefing.
Kluge warned that “Covid-19 is not going away any time soon” and said public health would need to “have a more prominent place in society” even when it does.
He added that “the key issue is to be prepared, whether it is for a second wave or another outbreak of another future infectious agent…This will require the collaboration and understanding of everyone… everyone has to do their share while moving to a new reality where public health has to have a more prominent place in society.”
Meanwhile, WHO’s Director General, Dr. Tedros A. Ghebreyesus, during the organization’s second official virtual press conference on Covid-19 said that, “people want to get on with their lives because their life and livelihoods are at stake and that’s what WHO wants too and that’s what we are working for everyday. But the world cannot and will not go back to the way things were. There must be a new normal, a world that is healthier, safer and better prepared.”
He explained that while some countries are seeing improvements in the number of cases, the world must be better prepared because the “virus will be with us for a long time.”
The Director General added that, “there is no question that stay at home orders and other physical distancing measures have successfully suppressed transmission in many countries but this virus remains extremely dangerous…most of the world’s population remains susceptible; that means epidemics can easily reignite.”
While noting that stay at home orders can be difficult to adapt to, he said it is necessary to adapt to the “new normal”.
According to a Bloomberg article, a report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota complied by a group of experts states that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to last as long as two years and won’t be controlled until about two-thirds of the world’s population is immune.
The report explains that this is likely to be the case because of the virus’s ability to spread from people who don’t appear to be ill, making it harder to control when compared to influenza.
It added that people may actually be at their most infectious before symptoms appear.
The report adds that, “after locking down billions of people around the world to minimise its spread through countries, governments are now cautiously allowing businesses and public places to reopen. Yet the coronavirus pandemic is likely to continue in waves that could last beyond 2022.”

In Guyana, only essential businesses are allowed to operate. However, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce (GCCI) is planning to ask government for a phased reopening of non-essential businesses.

The report urges Government officials to incorporate the concept that this pandemic will not be over soon. It says that, “people need to be prepared for possible periodic resurgences of disease over the next two years.”
It further noted that developers are rushing to make vaccines that may be available in small quantities as early as this year.
The report was written by CIDRAP director Michael Osterholm and medical director Kristen Moore, Tulane University public health historian John Barry, and Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Europe accounts for 46 per cent of all Covid cases globally, and nearly 63 per cent of all deaths.
(Information credit Bloomberg)
World Health Organization (WHO), Europe Director Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge.