Description: What happens when the Covid-19 pandemic is outbreak?

Like the word “pandemic,” the word “endemic” is now used by scientists and health professionals in connection with Covid-19. However, the term does not yet have a single agreed definition.

Some European countries, such as Spain, have decided to avoid the crisis and avoid further restrictions, and have begun to make tentative plans for when to begin treatment of Covid-19 as an endemic disease such as seasonal influenza. I did. But World Health Organization (WHO) experts and other officials said it was premature. The world is far from declaring that the pandemic is over.

Let’s take a look at the meaning of endemic and its impact on the future.

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What does it mean to have endemic illness, unlike a pandemic?

In an epidemic, the disease occurs regularly and spreads rapidly to specific areas according to established patterns, but when it spreads globally, it becomes a pandemic, causing unpredictable waves of disease in very large areas.

According to Catherine Smallwood, an infectious disease expert at WHO’s European headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, the agency says redefining the coronavirus as endemic is still a “road”.

“We still have a huge amount of uncertainty and a rapidly evolving virus,” she said earlier this month.

In most countries, designating an illness as endemic means that it is no longer considered a public health emergency and therefore less resources are available to combat it.

Who decides if COVID-19 is endemic?

Most wealthy countries may begin to consider Covid-19 as endemic, depending on how the virus spreads within the border. Also, new cases can cause outbreaks. The wide availability of Covid-19 vaccines, medicines, and other measures in developed countries helps to control their outbreak long before the viruses are globally controlled.

WHO has not technically declared a pandemic, but its highest alert level is a global health emergency, and Covid-19 has guaranteed that distinction since January 2020. A panel of experts formed by the United Nations Health Organization will meet every three months since then to reassess the situation.

WHO experts have declared that Covid-19 is no longer eligible for a global emergency, but the pandemic may end. However, the criteria for that decision are not precisely defined.

“It’s not just the number of cases, it’s a subjective decision. It’s about seriousness, it’s about the impact,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s head of emergency, by the Associated Press.

Others have designated Covid-19 as endemic, perhaps a political issue rather than a scientific one, demonstrating how much illness and death the national authorities and their citizens tolerate. increase.

What is Spain proposing?

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said last week that the decline in mortality from Covid-19 suggests that it is time for European authorities to begin thinking about whether the disease should be considered endemic. .. This means that Spanish officials do not have to record all Covid-19 positive cases and people with symptoms are not always tested, but if they are ill, they will continue treatment. ..

This proposal has been discussed with some EU officials, but no specific decision has been made.

Last October, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control issued recommendations on how countries could move to more routine surveillance of Covid-19 after the acute phase of a pandemic.

“Countries need to integrate coronavirus monitoring with other diseases such as influenza and test a representative sample of Covid-19 cases, rather than testing everyone with symptoms,” the authorities said. Said in some recommendations.

Does endemic mean that the problem is over?

Endemic does not mean the problem is over-because many serious illnesses, including tuberculosis and HIV, are considered endemic in parts of the world and continue to kill hundreds of thousands of people each year.

For example, malaria is considered endemic in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa and is estimated to cause more than 200 million cases each year, including about 600,000 deaths.

“Endemic itself does not mean good,” Ryan added, “endemic only means that it is here forever.”

Health officials have warned that even after Covid-19 has become an established respiratory virus such as seasonal flu, the virus will continue to prove deadly to some.

According to Dr. Chris Woods, an infectious disease expert at Duke University, “Covid will be with us” even after the pandemic is over.

“The difference is that people do not die indiscriminately because of it. It is so routine that vaccines, treatments and diagnostics are better and more equitable for everyone. It will be like that, “he added.

(There is input from the Associated Press)

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