Chinese Researchers Say Coronavirus Will Return Each Year, Can Never Be Eradicated

The Chinese researchers have added to the global concerns questioning whether we will ever be able to eradicate coronavirus. Unfortunately, there is a high possibility that coronavirus will continue to remain with us and hit like a wave each year like the flu season.

The main reason why it is suspected that coronavirus will not disappear from the world completely is that many COVID-19 patients continue to remain asymptomatic. Therefore, there is no way for them to know that they are a carrier for the virus and may end up living their life normally and infecting other people at the same time, who may or may not develop symptoms further.

This scenario is completely opposite to its close cousin SARS, which hit the global population in 2003. During the SARS pandemic, the affected people became seriously ill with no exceptions. Therefore, it was easier for them to be traced, tested and isolated and thus, control the spread of the virus.

The number of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases makes it difficult to control the transmission of the virus, explained Chinese viral and medical researchers on Monday during a conference in Beijing.

“ 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 of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

The director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, has previously said that COVID-19 is likely to become a seasonal ailment.

Wang Guiqiang of the Peking University First Hospital said that another reason why it may not be possible that coronavirus may eliminate by itself is the temperature that is actually required to kill it. Even though the virus is heat-sensitive, but only when it is exposed to temperature as high as 56 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. The weather is not going to be that extreme ever to eliminate the virus. Therefore, even in the summers, the chance of coronavirus infections going down is bleak.

Global experts now have a growing consensus that coronavirus could be something that people may have to live with for an uncertain time. Some are even advising nations with the younger population to let it spread in a controlled way, especially considering the fact that the global economy is severely impacted due to lockdown in several countries.