Tech – Metro | Coronavirus could return every winter as a seasonal killer bug, scientists warn

This electron microscope image shows the new coronavirus (Image: AP)

The Wuhan coronavirus which causes the disease COVID-19 has now killed more than 3,000 people across the world and infected roughly 90,000.

Now experts have warned that the disease could be here to stay and return every winter to wreak havoc on humanity.

Professor John Oxford, a virologist from Queen Mary University of London, told the Sunday Telegraph the bug could 'settle down and become seasonal'.

'It's a question of crystal ball gazing but if you look at other members of the coronavirus family, that are respiratory viruses and we've known about them for the last 50 years or more, they're seasonal,' he continued.

'They're just like the common cold, there's probably a few thousand people infected with them at the moment in England.

'Whether Covid-19 will fit into that pattern or not, we will just have to wait and see but my guess is it will.'

This was backed up by other scientists who fear it will continue to kill until we develop a vaccine.

'This is going to be with us for some time – it's endemic in human populations and not going to go away without a vaccine,' Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security, told Business Insider.

Last week, scientists at a genetic engineering company in Texas claimed they have created a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus.

However, developing a vaccine is only the first stage in the journey towards distributing one, with most experts in agreement that the period between testing and production typically takes between 18 months and two years.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said a vaccine is at least one year away.

Branding the current period a 'window of opportunity', director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a balance between developing a 'long-term' fix and quicker solutions to prevent an escalation in the crisis.

Addressing a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr Tedros said that preparing a vaccine was planning for the 'worst situation'.

He explained: 'We have to invest in preparedness and really use this window of opportunity to stay away from any serious crisis.

'We have to strike a balance. The vaccine could be the long term, because it could take up to 12 to 18 months. And this is like preparing for the worst situation.

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