Coronavirus could linger in Europe for two years, Chinese expert says

‘It would be perfectly normal if the virus comes and goes’ with the seasons, Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai’s Covid-19 clinical expert team, tells Chinese expats, students in Germany

‘If only the whole world could stop moving for four weeks, the pandemic could be stopped,’ he says

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Europe should prepare for a long battle against Covid-19, a Chinese expert says. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 11:00pm, 22 Mar 2020Updated: 11:56pm, 22 Mar 2020

A Chinese expert on infectious diseases said Europe must give up on the idea that the Covid-19 pandemic will be over soon and instead prepare for a battle that could last for up to two years.

The warning – from Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai’s Covid-19 clinical expert team – came as European countries, including Italy, Spain and Germany, are experiencing sharp rises in the number of infections and deaths, while China is working to keep out imported cases after reporting only one new domestic case in the past four days.

“It would be perfectly normal if the virus comes and goes, and lasts for one or two years,” Zhang said during a videoconference organised by the Chinese consulate in the German city of Düsseldorf.

“I can tell you now, forget the idea that the pandemic will come to an end in Europe in the near future,” he told the audience of mostly Chinese expatriates and students.

Zhang, who is also director of the infectious diseases department at Huashan Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, earlier predicted that the epidemic within China would peak between April and June, before falling back in summer, returning sporadically through autumn and winter, and peaking again, though probably on a smaller scale, next spring.

However, as the outbreak was now a pandemic, it was inevitable that it would be prolonged, and exactly when it might be brought under control – be it this summer or next – would depend on the global effort to contain it, he said.

Coronavirus could linger in Europe for two years, Chinese expert says

‘It would be perfectly normal if the virus comes and goes’ with the seasons, Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai’s Covid-19 clinical expert team, tells Chinese expats, students in Germany ‘If only the whole world could stop moving for four weeks, the pandemic could be stopped,’ he says

‘It would be perfectly normal if the virus comes and goes’ with the seasons, Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai’s Covid-19 clinical expert team, tells Chinese expats, students in Germany

‘If only the whole world could stop moving for four weeks, the pandemic could be stopped,’ he says