Coronavirus is likely to keep coming back each year, say scientists
By: Team Ifairer | Posted: 28-04-2020
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China's top scientists said the novel coronavirus will not be eradicated, joining a growing consensus around the world that the pathogen will likely return in waves like the flu. It is unlikely for the new virus to disappear the way its close cousin the SARS virus did 17 years ago, as it infects some people without causing obvious symptoms like fever. This group of asymptomatic carriers make it hard to fully contain the transmission, as they can spread the virus undetected, a group of Chinese virus and medical researchers told reporters in Beijing at a briefing on Monday.
With SARS, those infected became seriously ill. Once they were quarantined from others, the virus stopped spreading. In contrast, China is still finding dozens of asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus every day, despite bringing its epidemic under control. This is very likely to be an epidemic that co-exists with humans for a long time, becomes seasonal and is sustained within human bodies, said Jin Qi, director of the Institute of Pathogen Biology at China's top medial research institute, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
A consensus is forming among top researchers and governments around the world that the coronavirus is unlikely to be eradicated, despite costly lockdowns that have brought much of the global economy to a halt. Some public health experts are calling for the virus to be allowed to spread in a controlled way through younger populations, like that of India's, while countries like Sweden have opted out of strict lockdowns.