THE World Health Organisation has predicted that Covid-19 will be over as a public health emergency in 2023.
Director General of the Organisation, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said this at a virtual media briefing today.
During the briefing, the WHO chief said there were now almost seven million reported deaths from Covid-19, although the actual number of deaths was much higher.
“We are certainly in a much better position now than we have been at any time during the pandemic. It’s very pleasing to see that for the first time, the weekly number of reported deaths in the past four weeks has been lower than when we first used the word ‘pandemic’ three years ago.
“I am confident that this year we will be able to say that COVID-19 is over as a public health emergency of international concern.
“We are not there yet. Last week, there were still more than five thousand reported deaths. That’s five thousand too many for a disease that can be prevented and treated. Even as we become increasingly hopeful about the end of the pandemic, the question of how it began remains unanswered,” he said.
Ghebreyesus urged China to be ‘transparent’ in sharing COVID-19 data in efforts to determine the disease’s origins.
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