Covid enters endemic stage: Here is what it means

Hyderabad: Covid 19 is all set to be classified as endemic as World Health Organization has decided that the disease is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PGEIC).

With this announcement, the disease is now to be classified as endemic.

What does endemic mean?

Endemic means the prevalence of disease in a certain pocket or area. The disease trend across the country has been constant. The advent of new sub-lineages like XBB.1.16 has shown a higher transmission rate but the severity of the disease is low.

Telangana Government Chest Hospital superintendent, Dr P Mahaboob Khan says, “We were seeing the end of the epidemic stage in the first quarter of 2023. The cycle of the virus shows that in due course it will become endemic. This means some parts of the country will have Covid 19 infections.”

Declaration by WHO emergency committee

The 15th meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Covid 19 stated that the disease is now an established ongoing health issue but not a public emergency.

The recommendations to countries include:

· Continue Surveillance

· Offer protection in terms of vaccination

· Offer proper clinical management of the disease

· Support Research

Central health ministry to devise a strategy

Covid 19 Task Force to devise a strategy after the declaration of the endemic stage. The Covid 19 global pandemic was declared on March 2020 and the number of cases increased 13-fold in two weeks.

Covid 19 active cases in India on May 10, 2023, are 22,742 which is 0.05 percent.