MOSCOW, Sept 29, 2020 (BSS/TASS) – World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge is not ruling out the possibility that the coronavirus can become a seasonal infection.
He said in an interview with TASS on Monday and underlined that coronaviruses belong to the same group as influenza viruses. “So, in that sense it could become seasonal,” he noted. “My principle is, because I am an optimist, I hope for the best, but I prepare for the worst.”
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus – named COVID-19 by the WHO – have been reported in every corner of the world.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
According to the latest statistics, over 32,800,000 people have been infected worldwide and one million deaths have been reported.