On January 11, 2020, authorities in China announced the first death from an unknown coronavirus.

Five years after the start of the pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV2), covid-19 has stopped disrupting the planet, but it is not yet a thing of the past as it still causes infections – often persistent – ​​and deaths.

So far covid-19 has officially infected 777 million people and caused the death of more than 7 million, although in reality the number is estimated to be higher, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

But over time and the various waves of the disease, the effects of covid-19 on deaths and hospitalizations have been significantly reduced, thanks to the immunity that the population has acquired through vaccinations and/or infections.

Covid is still killing (more than 3,000 deaths were recorded from October to November 2024 in 27 countries, according to the WHO), but the vast majority of deaths from the disease were recorded from 2020 to 2022.

The pandemic is considered to have ended in the spring of 2023 when the WHO lifted the highest level of alert it had declared.

The virus has not been eradicated, but appears to have gradually become endemic, with regular waves of outbreaks like the flu, experts say.

However, “people want to forget that this virus is still with us, people want to put covid in the past — and in various ways pretend nothing happened — because the whole experience was traumatic,” he remarked to the media December, Dr. Maria Van Kerhove, head of preparation for epidemics and pandemics at the WHO.

The era of the Omicron variant began in the fall of 2021 and continues: one substrain of the coronavirus replaces the other, without causing more severe symptoms.

Nevertheless, the scenario of new strains of the virus that will be more contagious or bypass people’s immunity should not be completely ruled out, some scientists estimate.

In any case, Sars-CoV2 will remain among us.

Vaccination, which was carried out at an intensive rate, was of critical importance in dealing with the pandemic. More than 13.6 billion doses of vaccines were administered worldwide, although access to them was very unequal between rich and poor countries.

Experts still recommend the vaccines modified to treat the Omicron variant, especially for the most vulnerable, because they continue to provide protection against severe forms of the disease and the risk of long covid.

In terms of treatment, it remains the same after Omicron’s appearance: some antiviral drugs and monoclonal antibodies.

Some innovations brought about or accelerated by the pandemic, notably mRNA vaccines, have given rise to hopes for the treatment of other diseases, such as cancer.

Fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, intermittent fever, loss of taste or smell, difficulty concentrating, depression… those affected by long covid experience one or more of these symptoms, generally for three months after infection, which persist for at least two months and are not explained by any other pathology.

About 6% of those infected with covid are affected by this syndrome, the WHO pointed out at the end of December, stressing that it still “burdens health systems”.

Women and those suffering from underlying diseases are more affected by long civid, while reinfections seem to increase the risk of its occurrence.

The covid-19 will not be the last pandemic, scientists are sure of that. The question is to know when the next one will appear and if the world will be prepared for it.

About 60% to 70% of new diseases are zoonotic, meaning they come from an animal. The risk of infection from them is heightened by deforestation, which increases human contact with wild animals, which may carry unknown viruses.

The covid era has also fueled vaccine disdain and misinformation. It is indicative that the newly elected US President Donald Trump wants to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a well-known anti-vaccinationist.

EM