The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reportedly told at an executive meeting that “the emergency phase of the pandemic could end this year if 70 percent of the population of every country is vaccinated, even as conditions across the globe make the surfacing of new variants a strong possibility.”

It is dangerous to assume that omicron will be the last variant, or that we are in the endgame. On the contrary, globally the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.

– Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at an executive board meeting (source: The Washington Post)

According to the Post, the WHO’s Europe director, Hans Kluge has also expressed optimism for Europe that “it’s plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame.”

Director General Ghebreyesus reportedly added “On the contrary, globally the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic is now entering its third year and we are at a critical juncture. We must work together to bring the acute phase of this pandemic to an end. We cannot let it continue to drag on, lurching between panic and neglect.”

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“It’s true that we will be living with COVID for the foreseeable future and that we will need to learn to manage it through a sustained and integrated system for acute respiratory diseases, which will provide a platform for preparedness for future pandemics,” Tedros said.

“But learning to live with COVID cannot mean that we give this virus a free ride. It cannot mean that we accept almost 50,000 deaths a week from a preventable and treatable disease.”