Sense of an ending: Scientists say worst of Covid could be over

New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Is the worst of Covid over? Yes, say several scientists, perhaps for the first time in more than two years of a pandemic that affected every facet of life in every corner of the globe.

The pandemic will be over but Covid will be here to stay, the scientists said as Covid numbers begin to ebb in several parts of the world, including India. The disease in its current form will still contribute to a steady background of cases, neither increasing sharply nor declining abruptly.

"A dwindling fraction of these cases will be severe enough to lead to death. It is this new normal that we must become accustomed to," Gautam I Menon, professor, Departments of Physics and Biology, Ashoka University, told PTI. “The world cannot function in a state of permanent heightened alertness,” Menon, who has been tracking Covid numbers since the beginning of the pandemic, added. More than two years after declaring COVID-19 an international emergency, the World Health Organization (WHO) is now expressing optimism that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight. "We have spent two-and-a-half years in a long, dark tunnel, and we are just beginning to glimpse the light at the end of that tunnel,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.