WHO hopes that COVID-19 will no longer be a pandemic next year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes that COVID-19 will lose its status as a pandemic next year, even if the virus does not disappear, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

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“We hope that at some point next year we will be able to say that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency,” he said at a briefing with UN-accredited ACANU journalists.

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The head of WHO recalled that a year ago, the Omicron strain had just been identified and was beginning to gain momentum.

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“At that time, COVID-19 was killing 50,000 people every week. Last week, fewer than 10,000 people died. That’s still 10,000 too many, and all countries still have a lot to do to save lives, but we have come a long way.” he added.