Renowned virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan has dismissed ideas that Covid-19 will become endemic, as predicted by health authorities in Thailand and around the world.
Posting on his Facebook page, Yong noted that the words Covid-19 and endemic were frequently being used together.
However, he pointed out that "endemic" describes a disease that is confined to a certain area – such as Yellow Fever in Africa or MERS in the Middle East – while a pandemic describes a worldwide outbreak.
He explained that Covid-19 has spread all over the world and will not be confined to a certain area, so there is no chance it will become endemic.
Other communicable diseases that have been controlled by vaccines, such as measles and diphtheria, are not called endemic, he added.
Instead, Covid-19 would eventually be controlled by vaccination and naturally immunity, reducing the mortality rate. At this stage, it would become a respiratory disease we live with, like seasonal flu.