When and How Will This COVID-19 Pandemic End?
Legend has it that as Rome was being ravaged by a deadly plague in 590 CE, Pope Gregory I saw a vision of Archangel Michael sheathing a sword atop Emperor Hadrian’s mausoleum. He interpreted this as a sign that the plague is about to be over. As the epidemic soon came to an end, a grateful Rome installed a statue of Archangel Michael on top of that building and renamed it as Castel Sant’ angelo, which continues to be a major landmark of the eternal city even today. As vaccination picks up pace worldwide and the number of new infections decline sharply, especially in Asia, is it time to proclaim the end of this pandemic? The coronavirus pandemic has been a vital threat to humanity for more than a year now (the WHO had officially designated it as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, PHEIC, on January 30, 2020). Globally, there have been 106 million cases of coronavirus, of which 2.3m people have died (as of 8 th February). Around the world, epidemiologists are c...