The World Health Organization(WHO) has warned that the novel coronavirus may "never go away" and populations around the world will have to learn to live with it.

WHO's emergencies director Michael Ryan said on Wednesday during an online press briefing that the virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and may never go away.

Ryan said the current number of people who have been infected is relatively low. He continued that without a vaccine, it could take years for the disease to settle into an endemic phase, where many people have been exposed and it's circulating like other seasonal viruses.  

However, he added that HIV has also not gone away, but people have come to terms with the virus and found therapies and prevention methods.