The Covid-19 pandemic that began in December 2019 continues to raging like wildfire, threatening people’s lives, spiritual peace, and the economy. Official data point out that so far, nearly 5.5 million people worldwide have died from Covid, although the actual death toll may be several notches higher. Read also-Reality Check: How the Covid Cases in India Progressed in December
In the past two years, the world has witnessed a consistent pattern of various strains of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the Covid-19 disease, and attacked it when life began to limp.
Science interprets it as the evolution of the Covid virus-changes in the genetic code (gene mutations) in response to the host’s innate and acquired immune response, as well as vaccines and treatments.
Starting from the wild-type virus in China, SARS-CoV-2 quickly mutated into Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta strains, as well as many other strains. The variant currently circulating around the world is the Omicron variant-touted as being easier to spread than all other variants and potentially evading treatment.
Two years have passed, is Covid coming to an end? The Omicron variants first discovered in South Africa and Botswana at the end of November showed a different picture.
In just one month, more than 30 mutations occurred in the spike protein of this variant, which has spread to more than 100 countries, and surpassed the Delta variant in many countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Ireland. Become the main strain.
Shahid Jameel, a visiting professor at Ashoka University, told IANS: “The appearance of the Omicron variant indicates that the virus is not yet complete.”
At the same time, Omicron also “shows that the virus is moving in the direction of increasing transmission and reducing disease. This shows that it is becoming an endemic disease,” added Jameel, who is also a senior researcher at Oxford University’s Green Templeton College.
According to Pavithra Venkatagopalan, Director of the Covid Task Force of the Next Generation Rotary Club of Madras, the future pandemic will evolve into an epidemic, just like the flu, which requires an injection every year .
“It is very likely that Covid-19 is likely to be a seasonal disease. There will be periodic surges around the world every year, and the world will respond to this by vaccinating every year to prevent the burden of disease in the population, just like seasonal flu. Kiran G. Kulirankal, an infectious disease doctor at Kochi Amrita Hospital, told IANS.
Although according to Kulirankal, the disease is unlikely to “disappear permanently from the earth,” the end of the pandemic will also depend on vaccination rates around the world.
Complete News Source : India.com
