The coronavirus pandemic remains a global emergency but the end could be in sight if countries use the tools at their disposal, a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation told a briefing on Tuesday.
The comments came a day after US President Biden in a televised interview said, “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it…, but the pandemic is over.
Last week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said that the number of weekly reported deaths from Covid-19 has plunged to its lowest since March 2020 and added that the end of the pandemic could be in sight.
Synonymizing the race to survive through the pandemic a marathon he warned that if the world does not take the opportunity now, there is still a risk of more variants, deaths, disruption, and uncertainty.
He announced that the World Health Organization is releasing six short policy briefs that outline the key actions that all governments must take now to ‘finish the race’. “[They] are an urgent call for governments to take a hard look at their policies and strengthen them for Covid-19 and future pathogens with pandemic potential,” Tedros went on to say.
The policy briefs are a summary, based on the evidence and experience of the last 32 months, outlining what works best to save lives, protect health systems, and avoid social and economic disruption.