The end of the Covid-19 pandemic is certainly in sight, but remains far away, underlined Thursday the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), thus moderating his remarks made last week.
“We have spent two and a half years in a long, dark tunnel, and we are only just beginning to see the light at the end of this tunnel,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference from New York as part of the UN General Assembly meeting.
“But we are still a long way off, and the tunnel is still dark, with many obstacles that could cause us to stumble if we are not careful”continued the head of the WHO.
After adopting a more optimistic tone last week, he tried to explain himself on Thursday by saying that “In press briefings for the past two weeks, I have said that the pandemic is not over, but the end is in sight and both are true.”
“Being able to see the end does not mean that we are at the end of the road”he defended.
The number of deaths reported each week around the world continues to decline and is now only 10% of what it was at the peak in January 2021, Dr Tedros said.
“But 10,000 deaths per week is 10,000 too many”, he hammered.
The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than 6.5 million lives worldwide, according to WHO online statistics.