Five years after COVID-19 began upending the world, the virus continues to infect and kill people around the world – although at levels far lower than at the height of the pandemic.
This is the current state of the room.
“Always with us”
Around 777 million cases of COVID-19 and more than seven million deaths have been officially recorded since the first infections appeared in December 2019, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
However, the true toll would be much higher.
The pandemic has also paralyzed health systems, collapsed economies and forced populations in many countries into lockdown.
During the second half of 2022, infection and mortality rates fell due to increasing immunity from vaccinations or previous infection. The virus has also mutated to become less serious.
In May 2023, the WHO declared that the emergency phase of the pandemic was over.
Since then, the virus appears to have gradually become endemic, experts say, with occasional resurgences similar to those of the flu, although less seasonal.
He has also largely disappeared from the public eye.
“The world wants to forget this pathogen that is still among us, and I think people want to put COVID-19 in the past like it’s over – and in many ways pretend it didn’t happen – because it has been so traumatic,” Maria Van Kerkhove, director of pandemic preparedness at WHO, said last month.
From October to November last year, more than 3,000 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded in 27 countries, according to the WHO.
More than 95 percent of official COVID-19 deaths were recorded between 2020 and 2022.
Variants
Since the appearance of the Omicron variant in November 2021, a succession of its sub-variants have succeeded one another to become the dominant strain in the world.
Currently, the Omicron KP.3.1.1 variant is the most common.
XEC, on the rise, is the only “variant under surveillance” by the WHO, although the UN agency considers its risk to global health to be low.
None of the successive Omicron subvariants has been significantly more severe than the others, although some experts caution that it is not out of the question that future strains could be more transmissible or deadly.
Vaccines and treatments
Vaccines were developed against COVID-19 in record time and have proven to be a powerful weapon against the virus, with more than 13.6 billion doses administered worldwide to date.
However, rich countries have purchased many of the first doses, creating an uneven distribution across the world.
Updated booster shots for the JN.1 Omicron subvariant are still recommended in some countries, especially for at-risk groups such as the elderly.
However, the WHO said most people – including older people – have not kept up with their booster shots.
Even among healthcare professionals, the booster use rate was less than 1% in 2024, according to the WHO.
Long COVID-19
Millions of people have been affected by long COVID-19, a still poorly understood disease that lasts months after initial infection.
Common symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, and shortness of breath.
About six percent of people infected with the coronavirus develop a long form of COVID-19, the WHO said last month, adding that the disease “continues to represent a significant burden on health systems.”
Much about long COVID-19 remains unknown. There are no tests or treatments. Multiple COVID-19 infections appear to increase the risk of contracting the disease.
Future pandemics?
Scientists have warned that another pandemic will strike sooner or later, urging the world to learn lessons from COVID-19 and prepare for the next time.
Attention has recently focused on avian influenza (H5N1), particularly after the United States reported the first human death from the virus on Monday.
The Louisiana patient had underlying health conditions and contracted the H5N1 virus after exposure to infected birds, US health authorities said, stressing that there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission. .
Since the end of 2021, WHO member states have been negotiating a first global treaty on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
However, an agreement remains difficult to reach before the May deadline, with a major fault line between Western countries and poorer countries, which fear being sidelined when the next pandemic hits.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also been marked by a massive increase in vaccine skepticism and misinformation.
Experts have warned against putting Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist – chosen by US President-elect Donald Trump for health secretary – in charge. of the US response to a possible pandemic threat over the next four years.
