Globally, even as coronavirus cases begin to soar, many countries are beginning to lift or partially remove stay-at-home restrictions. In India too, there are lot of possibilities for how the next phase of lockdown will fan out.
Even as the pandemic forced the world to come to a complete stand-still, the World Health Organisation, in its latest findings said that there is no magical chance of the coronavirus really fading away from the world because of the imposed lockdowns and it might just become "another endemic" the world may have to deal with.
Adding what a lot of experts have been debating for a long while, Mike Ryan, head of the WHO also said that there was a strong chance that the virus "may never go away" and restarting life normally, like how it was pre-coronavirus is a long shot.
"There is some magical thinking going on that lockdowns work perfectly and that unlocking lockdowns will go great. Both are fraught with dangers,"
The virus, which is said to have emerged in a wet market in Wuhan, China slowly spread out to major countries in the world, infecting over 4.29 million people and causing over 2,90,000 deaths in a span of 5 quick months. In India, as of today (May 14), which is experiencing a sudden spike in cases, there are over 78,000 active cases in the country.
One of the biggest reasons behind the surge in infection rates and community transmission is that the infection is largely
asymptomatic. Apart from that, research bodies are also finding newer symptoms associated with the mysterious illness, adding to our worries. Most recently, it was found that
coronavirus could trigger an inflammatory response in young kids, who, so far were considered to be low-risk patients.
Coronavirus, which spreads through respiratory droplets has been likened to a flu-like infection, even as the symptoms and progression of the disease are far more dangerous. A group of scientists from the UK made the findings in early March, alerting people that even after flattening the curve, there exists high possibility of the virus coming back or
returning like a seasonal infection. Leading scientists from China, who have been fighting hard to contain the virus spread have also asserted the fact that there is no surety that the virus shall be fully eradicated, and instead, keep returning back as waves or be sustained.