‘COVID-19 IS BECOMING ENDEMIC’

A senior epidemiologist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on Sunday said SARS-CoV-2 which is commonly known as COVID-19 is heading towards an endemic stage. Endemic is a stage where cases are confined to a particular geographical location and the cases are constantly present in low numbers in that specific area. “Looking at the COVID-19 vaccination status and the natural infection, we can say that very soon, the majority of us will be getting an infection. And then this virus will convert into the endemic virus,” Dr Sanjay Rai told ANI here.

The AIIMS senior epidemiologist also remarked that those who recovered from the COVID are the best-protected people as of now based on the scientific evidence followed by vaccinated persons. “COVID-19 is RNA virus and the virus has mutated thousands of times. Although, the variant of concern are only five like alpha, beta, gamma delta and currently, Omicron which is a very fast transmitting disease. So very fast transmission is taking place all over the world,” the health expert said. “The overall severity is less so the majority of us will get this infection. Based on the current scientific evidence, we can see those who recovered from COVID are the best-protected persons as of now.”