Five years after the emergence of Covid-19 and its spread around the world, the virus is still causing disease and death, albeit at much lower levels than at the height of the pandemic.
Here is the current situation:
He’s still with us
About 777 million Covid-19 infections and more than 7 million deaths have been officially recorded since the first infections appeared in December 2019, according to the World Health Organization. However, the real number of deaths is believed to be much higher.
The pandemic has also paralyzed health systems, collapsed economies, and prompted many countries to impose quarantines.
In the second half of 2022, infection and death rates decreased thanks to improved immunity following vaccination campaigns or previous infections. Also, the virus has mutated to become less severe.
In May 2023, the World Health Organization declared the end of the emergency phase of the pandemic. Since then, the virus appears to have gradually become endemic, according to experts, with occasional new cases emerging as happens with influenza, although not seasonal. Also, he has largely declined from being the talk of the people in general.
“The world wants to forget about this pathogen that is still with us, and I think people want to consign Covid to the past, as if it is over, and to forget about it as if it never happened, because it was,” Maria Van Kerkhove, director of pandemic preparedness at the World Health Organization, said last month. “Very shocking.”
From October to November 2024, more than 3,000 deaths due to Covid-19 were recorded in 27 countries, according to the World Health Organization.
More than 95% of official Covid-19 deaths were recorded between 2020 and 2022.
Mutants
Since the emergence of the Omicron variant in November 2021, a series of sub-variants have replaced one another as the dominant strain worldwide.
Currently, the KP.3.1.1 variant branching from Omicron is the most common.
The World Health Organization is placing the XEC (SARS-CoV-2) mutant, which is part of the Omicron strains, under surveillance, due to its increasing spread, although the organization does not classify it as a dangerous mutant at the global level.
None of the successive subvariants of the Omicron lineage have been significantly more severe than others, although some experts warn that it is not unlikely that future strains could be more transmissible or fatal.
Vaccines and treatments
Several vaccines against Covid-19 have been developed in record time and have proven to be a powerful weapon to combat the virus, with more than 13.6 billion doses administered worldwide to date.
But rich countries acquired a large portion of the first doses, which led to their uneven distribution among the countries of the world.
Some countries are still recommending updated booster doses for the JN.1 substrain of Omicron, especially for high-risk groups such as the elderly.
However, the World Health Organization said most people – including the elderly – had not taken their booster doses. Even among health care workers, the rate of booster doses was less than 1% in 2024.
Long Covid
Millions of people have been infected with long Covid, a condition that is still largely poorly understood and persists for months after the first infection. Common symptoms include fatigue, confusion, and shortness of breath.
The World Health Organization said last month that about 6% of people infected with the Coronavirus develop long-term Covid, and that these cases “continue to constitute a significant burden on health systems.”
Scientists still cannot fully understand long-term Covid, as there are no tests or treatments for it, and multiple infections with Covid appear to increase the chance of developing this condition.
Another pandemic?
Scientists expect another pandemic to hit the world sooner or later, and urge learning the lessons of Covid-19 and preparing for it.
Recently, attention has focused on bird flu (H5N1), especially after the United States announced on Monday the first human death from this virus.
US health authorities said that the patient who died in Louisiana was suffering from underlying medical conditions and was infected with the H5N1 virus after being exposed to infected birds, stressing that there is no evidence of transmission from one person to another.
Since late 2021, WHO member states have been negotiating the first global treaty on epidemic prevention and preparedness.
But it is still a long way off and it is not expected to be ready before the deadline in May, due to disagreements between Western countries and poorer countries that fear they will be marginalized again when the next pandemic occurs.
Also, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has seen a dramatic increase in the spread of skeptical attitudes and misinformation about vaccines.
Experts are concerned about US President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of his intention to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic and supporter of conspiracy theories, to the position of Minister of Health responsible for the health response, if necessary to confront a pandemic during the next four years.