- Virus here to stay
- ‘Chinese hackers stealing research’
- Mental crisis next
The coronavirus may never go away and populations will have to learn to live with it just as they have HIV, the World Health Organization has warned, as the global death toll from the disease nears 300,000.
A vaccine could allow countries and economies to fully re-open from lockdowns and potentially earn millions of dollars for its creators, but the WHO said the virus may never be wiped out entirely.
“This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away,” said Michael Ryan, the global health body’s emergencies director in Geneva.
“HIV has not gone away – but we have come to terms with the virus.”
The prospect of the disease hanging around leaves governments across the world facing a delicate balancing act between suppressing the pathogen and getting economies up and running.
US: China trying to steal treatment
Chinese hackers are trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research, US authorities said, ratcheting up tensions between the superpowers.
“China’s efforts to target these sectors pose a significant threat to our nation’s response to COVID-19,” the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said. Neither agency offered evidence or examples to support the allegation.
Beijing, for its part, accused the US of smearing, adding that China is “also leading the world in COVID-19 vaccine research and treatment.”
“China expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to such smearing. Judging from past records, the US has carried out the largest cyber-theft operations worldwide,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular press briefing.
Vaccine could be ready in a year
A vaccine for the coronavirus could be ready in a year’s time under an “optimistic” scenario, based on data from trials that are under way, the European Medicines Agency said.
“We can see the possibility if everything goes as planned that some of them (vaccines) could be ready for approval in a year from now,” said Marco Cavaleri, the EMA’s head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy.
World leaders past and present insisted on Thursday that any eventual COVID-19 vaccines and treatments should be made available to everyone, free of charge.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan were among more than 140 signatories of a letter saying any vaccine should not be patented while the science should be shared between nations.
‘Major’ mental health crisis looms
The coronavirus outbreak risks sparking a major global mental health crisis, the United Nations warned Thursday, calling for urgent action to address the psychological suffering brought on by the pandemic.
While protecting physical health has been the main concern during the first months of the crisis, it is also placing huge mental strains on large swathes of the global population, the UN said in a policy brief.
“After decades of neglect and underinvestment in mental health services, the COVID-19 pandemic is now hitting families and communities with additional mental stress,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in a video message launching the brief.
“Even when the pandemic is brought under control, grief, anxiety, and depression will continue to affect people and communities,” he said.
Virus ‘capable’ of spreading thru speech
Microdroplets generated by speech can remain suspended in the air in an enclosed space for more than ten minutes, a study published Wednesday showed, underscoring their likely role in spreading COVID-19.
Researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases had a person loudly repeat the phrase “Stay healthy” for 25 seconds inside a closed box. A laser projected into the box illuminated droplets, allowing them to be seen and counted.
They stayed in the air for an average of 12 minutes, the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America showed.
Taking into account the known concentration of coronavirus in saliva, scientists estimated that each minute of loudly speaking can generate more than 1,000 virus-containing droplets capable of remaining airborne for eight minutes or more in a closed space.