It was during the summer peak of coronavirus that US expert Anthony Fauci called the novel coronavirus a perfect storm with no end in near sight. Fauci's comments came at a time when United States President Donald Trump assured that coronavirus will 'just disappear'.
And now, when the world is awaiting the dawn of a new year, coronavirus statistics indicate that Fauci's words have come true. Even though several countries including India have partially succeeded in flattening the first wave curve, the second wave that hit countries like the United States and Italy is literally wreaking havoc.
Worries surrounding the mutated strain
It was around a few days back that a mutated strain of coronavirus was discovered in the United Kingdom. Experts in the United Kingdom soon informed the World Health Organization (WHO) that the mutated strain of COVID-19 has a 70 percent higher contraction rate than the original coronavirus that initially originated in Wuhan, China.
As the new coronavirus strain was detected in the United Kingdom, much of the world soon cut travel ties with the country, pulling the entire nation to a state of isolation. However, it was later reported that the mutated strain discovered in the UK is also confirmed in countries including Italy, Denmark, Gibraltar, the Netherlands, and Australia. India is also under scanner as several people who reached the country from the UK have started developing symptoms of the COVID-19 infection.
Coronavirus is here to stay for the next 10 years
In the meantime, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin has shockingly predicted that coronavirus will be there on the planet, at least for the next 10 years. He also added that the coronavirus vaccine can be adjusted for the new mutated UK variant in the next six weeks.
"We need a new definition of normal. The virus will stay with us for the next 10 years," said Sahin.
According to the latest statistics, coronavirus has infected more than 80 million people worldwide, and the death toll has already crossed 1.7 million.
