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It is now almost\u00a0<\/span>six<\/span>\u00a0months since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. As the epidemic was unfolding in February 2020, with little information about the new coronavirus, scientists from across disciplines offered projections of the epidemic and proposed policy measures that had one target in common: getting through the worst phase of the epidemic and\u00a0<\/span>controlling<\/span>\u00a0the situation.\u00a0<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Early contributions attempted to quantify and simulate optimal policy measures, and broadly proposed a two to three-month strict lockdown to be imposed some weeks into the epidemic. Some\u00a0<\/span>countries operated\u00a0<\/span>severe<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>lockdowns<\/span>\u00a0starting at two weeks after the outbreak and lasting for three months.\u00a0<\/span>Locally, various restrictive measures were enforced on businesses and the general population which\u00a0<\/span>led to disruptions in the\u00a0<\/span>labour<\/span>\u00a0market as well as financial difficulties amongst workers and businesses. Moreover, the\u00a0<\/span>outbreak\u00a0<\/span>of COVID-19 produced mental health issues to\u00a0<\/span>various\u00a0<\/span>people\u00a0<\/span>who found it difficult to cope in life when exposed to daily news, mainly coming from the social media.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Six<\/span>\u00a0months on, uncertainty around COVID-19 persists. Global daily confirmed cases are steadily\u00a0<\/span>increasing<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>While strict lockdown measures\u00a0<\/span>were<\/span>\u00a0lifted in many countries, new infection spikes have appeared in others, as the world wakes up to the fact that this coronavirus is likely to stay for a long time.\u202f<\/span>In\u00a0<\/span>Malta\u00a0<\/span>confirmed\u00a0<\/span>cases have\u00a0<\/span>increased<\/span>, so much so, that\u00a0<\/span>frontliners<\/span>\u00a0namely doctors and nurses are being burnt out.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One great unknown about COVID-19 is whether individuals who recover from it can be reinfected. At the emergence of any new virus, it is impossible to know whether immunity is permanent or wanes, until enough time has passed for\u00a0<\/span>more<\/span>\u00a0studies to take place.\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>f immunity to\u00a0<\/span>COVID-19<\/span>\u00a0is temporary, the disease will become endemic.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Medical specialists are of the opinion that p<\/span>artial<\/span>\u00a0lockdown or social distancing measures may become the norm for some years to come.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Currently<\/span>, the only policies at our disposal are non-medical interventions such as social distancing and\u00a0<\/span>restrictive<\/span>\u00a0measures. At the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, such policies proved to be extremely costly from social, economic, and health care perspectives.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, g<\/span>oing<\/span>\u00a0forward, we expect that\u00a0<\/span>the government,\u00a0<\/span>businesses<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and individuals<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>are likely to adapt how they do things and operate to mitigate the costs of this\u00a0<\/span>pandemic<\/span>. People may become more cautious in everyday dealings, businesses may come to depend less on third parties, while other organisations such as schools<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>transport<\/span>\u00a0operators\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and goods producers\u00a0<\/span>may find innovative ways to become more flexible and resilient in the ways they deliver services and products.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We hope that with creativity and resourcefulness, humanity will learn to live with the disease, should it turn out to be here for the long term.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is now almost\u00a0six\u00a0months since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. As the epidemic was unfolding in February 2020, with little information about the new coronavirus, scientists from across […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3953,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[180],"issuem_issue_categories":[7],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/3952"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3952"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/3952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3958,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/3952\/revisions\/3958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=3952"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=3952"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=3952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}