Pandemic will end in 2022 only if…Here is what the WHO chief said

New Delhi, Jan 01: Chief of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that COVID-19 will end in 2022 only if we end inequality together. The WHO chief was delivering a New Year address as the world entered the third year into the pandemic.

"While no country is out of the woods from the pandemic, we have many new tools to prevent and treat COVID-19. The longer inequity continues, the higher the risks of this virus evolving in ways we can't prevent or predict. If we end inequity, we end the pandemic," he said.

He said that millions of people have missed out on routine vaccination, services for family planning, treatment for communicable and non-communicable diseases. He also said that to prepare for future epidemics and pandemics, the new WHO BioHub System for countries to share novel biological materials had been established.

All countries should focus on vaccinating more and more people. "We need all countries to work together to reach the global target of vaccinating 70 per cent of people in all countries by the middle of 2022,"Tedros said.