New Delhi: Call it a ‘return to normalcy’ or enter a new era of the COVID-19 pandemic, but many countries, especially in the West, are moving towards accepting the coronavirus as an endemic and treating it only Treated as the flu. The latest case is from Spain.
After 2 years of curfews, lockdowns, mask mandates and movement restrictions, the question has arisen at times whether the world is really ready to go a step ahead and treat COVID like the flu. However, health experts in India and around the world have strongly warned against leaving security guards against the corona virus as it is a constantly changing virus.
So are we really ready to treat Covid like the flu? Here is an analysis of what global health bodies and various governments are saying about the ‘endemic phase’ of the coronavirus pandemic phase.
WHO’s stand
The WHO has vehemently and vehemently opposed the idea of a cure for COVID-19 and warned against waiving restrictions, especially mask mandates.
The head of the health body, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recently said that Omicron is less severe than the delta version of the coronavirus, but is still killing and affecting people, especially those who have not been vaccinated. .
However, the WHO itself assumed that most people in Europe would be infected with the new variant.
What do experts say?
On the other hand, many health experts in the United States are supporting the idea of a cure for COVID with maximum focus on vaccination against the virus.
Dr Clive Dix, a UK-based health expert and former chairman of the country’s Vaccine Task Force, recently said it is time to enter an endemic phase and treat COVID like the flu.
However, health experts in Spain are themselves divided on ‘treating Covid like the flu’.
“It is a mistake to think that not counting infections, or reducing the number of days of isolation, or setting up quarantines in schools with five children instead of maintaining what was there will not be a problem. The problem remains, and has to be addressed,” López Acua, a leading epidemiologist and former WHO directive, told a Spanish broadcaster
Is ‘treating COVID like the flu’ helping European countries?
Since Spain is the first country to officially announce that it will now treat COVID as an endemic, it is pertinent to understand the developing trend of the virus in the country.
In the past week, Spain recorded over 100 Covid-related deaths on a daily basis.
Now the United Kingdom, another proponent of the ‘new normal’ approach, has certainly seen a decline in Covid infections but is still reporting over 1 lakh cases every day for the past few days with over 250 deaths per day.
Now, it boils down to a pertinent question – if there are 100-200 deaths per day from a single infection, is there an idea of what’s ‘normal’ for a country?
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