WAKING NIGHTMARE

WHO: People Need to Know That Coronavirus Could Be Here Forever

The global health body said there was no use in trying to predict when a vaccine might arrive.

The World Health Organization has issued a distressing warning that the novel coronavirus “may never go away.” The global health body said there was no use in trying to predict when a vaccine might free the world from worrying about COVID-19, because it’s entirely feasible that such as time will never come. “It is important to put this on the table: This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away,” said Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief. “I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be.” The warning came as a report by the WHO’s mental-health department said that the “isolation, the fear, the uncertainty, the economic turmoil” of the coronavirus and the lockdowns to slow it are causing severe levels of distress around the world.