Covid

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated about the possibility that COVID-19 will not go away and will turn into an endemic disease. What does it mean?

How did COVID-19 become an endemic disease?

COVID-19, a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, spreads from China to all over the world. The spread that spreads to all countries in all continents of the world has made WHO declare COVID-19 a global pandemic since last March.

A pandemic is the spread of a new disease that affects a large number of people. According to WHO, an epidemic can be said to be a pandemic if it has been to many countries on several continents. This happened with COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has now spread to all continents in the world except Antarctica. The transmission rate, which has not shown a decline, has made some experts create several scenarios for how this pandemic will end.

The head of the WHO health emergency team Michael Ryan stated that it is possible that COVID-19 will not completely disappear and could become an endemic disease in the community.

"This virus may never go away and is likely to become one of the endemic diseases in society," said Dr. Ryan in the WHO press conference, Wednesday (13/5).

COVID-19 Outbreak updates Country: IndonesiaData

1,024,298

Confirmed

831,330

Recovered

28,855

DeathDistribution Map

Is it endemic?

Endemic is a disease that usually occurs in a certain area. According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), endemic refers to the presence of a continuous outbreak of disease in a population over a specific geographic landscape, such as a region, country, or continent.

Diseases that are endemic include malaria and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), which every year there are still registered cases in several regions.

Malaria is known to generally reside in warm areas close to the equator, which is why travelers who intend to visit these areas need preventative medicine. Indonesia is a malaria endemic country, especially in the provinces of Papua, West Papua and East Nusa Tenggara.

It is possible that the COVID-19 pandemic will turn into an endemic

Until now a vaccine has not been found and the future of the end of COVID-19 cannot be predicted with accuracy.

The WHO statement that COVID-19 will become an endemic disease is intended to invite the public to be more realistic in seeing the scenario of this pandemic.

Study published in the journal Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to emerge in several waves of case explosions.

That means that once there has been a decrease in the number of additional positive cases, there may be a second wave of COVID-19 in some time. Referring to the study, it is likely that it will take a long time to stop the transmission of COVID-19.

Padjadjaran University epidemiologist dr. Panji Hadisoemarto also stated that there is a possibility that the COVID-19 outbreak will become endemic.

"There are always diseases that are acute and contagious outbreak, there have been minor outbreaks or explosion cases. Say dengue fever, there is always an explosion of cases every year, every 5 years there is, only the frequent numbers are like that, that's what we call an endemic condition, "said dr. Panji to Hello Sehat.

"Actually, this kind of condition can happen. Naturally, it can happen to COVID-19 as well, but it can happen for how long I don't know because it hasn't been simulated yet, ”he explained.

The possibility that COVID-19 will really disappear and not become an endemic disease is if a vaccine has been found to prevent transmission. This COVID-19 vaccine must be very effective and available to be immunized to everyone.

Until now, no one has succeeded in making a vaccine for COVID-19. Several countries are still in the clinical trial process while Indonesia is just starting to research the COVID-19 vaccine itself.