COVID-19 Still a Risk: WHO Director-General

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said "there is still a long way to go" and warned of the still latent risks.

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This time, Tedros said, as he did last week, that the world was in the best position it had ever been in to end the pandemic, given the steady decline in the number of deaths per week. 

The WHO Director-General said that two-thirds of the world's population had been vaccinated, including three-quarters of health care workers and the elderly.

However, he said, "we have spent two and a half years in a long, dark tunnel, and we are just beginning to glimpse the light at the end of that tunnel," noting that "we are still in the tunnel."

Last week, Tedros said the end of the COVID-19 pandemic "is in sight," given the significant reduction in deaths. On that occasion, he called on governments to continue efforts to fight the virus, which spread rate remains at the same level as last year. 

According to the latest WHO epidemiological update, 9 800 deaths were reported last week, a 17 percent decrease from the previous week. A total of 3.2 million new cases were reported.