The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced today, Monday, that it may be possible to bring an end to the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, even though infection with the virus causes one death every 12 seconds worldwide. Tedros stated, "We can put an end to the acute phase of the pandemic this year; we can end COVID-19 as a global health emergency." However, he warned against "the danger of assuming that the Omicron variant will be the last variant or that the pandemic is over," as the conditions are currently "ideal" for the emergence of new virus variants, including those that spread quickly and are more harmful.
In his opening remarks at the WHO executive committee session in Geneva, he emphasized that to conclude the acute phase of the pandemic, countries should not remain idle, but must combat inequalities in vaccine distribution, monitor the spread of the virus and its variants, and take necessary actions to restrict its dissemination.
The Director-General urged member states weeks ago to expedite vaccine distribution in low-income countries with the goal of vaccinating 70% of the population in every country by mid-2022. According to the WHO, nearly 97 out of the 194 member states failed to achieve a vaccination coverage of 40% of their populations by the end of 2021.
COVID-19 caused a death every 12 seconds last week, with 100 new COVID-19 cases reported every three seconds, according to Tedros. The number of COVID-19 infections has risen rapidly since the emergence of the "concerning" Omicron variant, with over 80 million infections recorded since then.
The WHO Director-General confirmed that "so far, the surge in new COVID-19 infections has not been matched by a surge in deaths, even though fatalities are increasing in all regions, particularly in Africa, which is the region with the least access to vaccines." He added, "It is true that we will live with COVID-19 in the foreseeable future, but we must not accommodate it... This should not mean that we accept around 50,000 people dying every week from a disease that we can prevent and treat."
