More than 100 potential vaccines are being developed but experts stress the difficulty in finding one that is effective.

The coronavirus could become endemic in the same way as HIV and populations around the world will have to learn to live with it, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.

As some countries begin gradually easing lockdown restrictions, the WHO said COVID-19 may never be wiped out entirely.

"It is important to put this on the table: this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away. HIV has not gone away, but we have come to terms with the virus," WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan told an online briefing.

"I think it is important we are realistic and I don't think anyone can predict when this disease will disappear. I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be."

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