* Says Coronavirus appears to spread more easily than influenza聽

* People should prepare for possible periodic resurgences of disease

* Companies fast-track vaccine development, to begin production by July
Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Though optimistic about a vaccine, yet some almost certain that the fatal Coronavirus epidemic will return in winter, a group of experts in a latest report have said that the pandemic is likely to last as long as two years, and will not be controlled until about two-thirds of the world鈥檚 population is immune to it.

Bloomberg reports that as its ability to spread from people who don鈥檛 appear to be ill, the virus may be harder to control than influenza, the cause of most pandemics in recent history, according to the report from the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, United States.

The report finds that people may actually be at their most infectious before symptoms appear.

绿帽献妻 also gathered their report compares the current outbreak to past flu pandemics, but the research team notes that COVID-19 appears to spread more easily than influenza.

The Coronavirus also has a longer incubation period than the flu, so the symptoms take longer to appear in infected people, allowing them to unintentionally spread the virus, the report stated.

It was learnt that after locking down billions of people around the world to minimise its spread through countries, governments are now cautiously allowing businesses and public places to reopen.

Yet, the Coronavirus pandemic is likely to continue in waves that could last beyond 2022, the authors of the report stated.

The report said: 鈥淩isk communication messaging from government officials should incorporate the concept that this pandemic will not be over soon, and that people need to be prepared for possible periodic resurgences of disease over the next two years.鈥�

Meanwhile, in the world鈥檚 continued efforts at containing and defeating the virus, developers are rushing to make vaccines that may be available in small quantities as early 2020.

Companies working on vaccines are trying to accelerate the development of a drug to prevent COVID-19.

Moderna has developed a vaccine that hasn鈥檛 gone through the approval process yet, but Stephane Bansel, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, says production of the vaccine could begin as early as July 2020.

鈥淥ur team is ready to start dosing as soon as we get the greenlight,鈥� Bansel was quoted to have told CNBC.

Report further indicates that the drug manufacturing company 鈥渋s rushing to produce the vaccine called mRNA-1273鈥�, even though it has yet to clear a Phase 1 clinical trial.

That study will determine whether it鈥檚 safe for human consumption.

Moderna, however, says initial results from the ongoing trial look promising.

While large amounts of vaccine against the 2009-2010 flu pandemic didn鈥檛 become available until after the outbreak peaked in the U.S., a study has estimated that the shots prevented as many as 1.5 million cases and 500 deaths in that country alone, the report noted.

CIDRAP Director Michael Osterholm and Medical Director Kristen Moore, Tulane University Public Health historian John Barry, and Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, wrote the report.
Additional Report by Gbenga Kayode.