WHO: The COVID-19 pandemic is coming to an end and we have to seize this opportunity and sprint as hard as we can

"The marathon runner doesn't stop when he gets into view at the finish line, he will run harder and use all the energy left to reach the finish line, and we have to do it

That's what World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday, adding that "we've never been so close to the end of a COVID-19 pandemic" — the weekly death toll reported last week was the lowest since March 2020

Is the COVID-19 pandemic really coming to an end?

"We haven't reached the finish line yet, but the end is just around the corner

In the face of the lowest number of deaths in the new crown week in more than two years, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), has launched an initiative to "run" harder now in the face of the epidemic, and if he chooses to stop, it is the worst plan

Sprint before the finish line

On what basis does the WHO judge that the global COVID-19 pandemic is nearing the end? This is from the WHO's weekly epidemiological statistics, we first analyze the data

Globally, the number of new cases per week from 5 to 11 September 2022 has decreased by 28%, with more than 3.

As of 11 September 2022, more than 605 million confirmed cases and more than 6.

As of 11 September 2022, the WHO Region reports weekly new cases of COVID-19 and global deaths

In this epidemiological update of the WHO, there is another information that deserves our attention - the current situation

In terms of subregions, the number of weekly new cases reported in all six WHO regions declined, while the number of weekly new deaths decreased in 5 of the 6 regions: the European Region (-31%), the South-East Asia Region (-25%), the Americas Region (-22%), the Western Pacific Region (-11%), and the Eastern Mediterranean Region (-10%), but it is worth noting that the African Region is on the rise in deaths (+10%)

As of 11 September 2022, the number of newly reported and cumulative reported confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in the WHO Region

At the country level, the highest number of new cases reported per week was in Japan (537181; -54%), followed by South Korea (435695; -26%), USA (430048; -26%), Russia (337187 new cases; +4%) and China (263288 new cases; +11%) (Note: This data includes Hong Kong, China, Taiwan region, Chinese mainland there are obviously not so many new cases).

Recent new confirmed cases in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan (seven-day rolling average) chart from Our World in Data

The highest number of new weekly deaths reported was in the United States (2306 new deaths; - 21%), Japan (1681 new deaths; -18%), Russia (637 new deaths; +1%), Brazil (551 new deaths; - 36%) and the Philippines (440 new deaths; +28%）

Is the pandemic over? I'm afraid not

The finish line is just around the corner

Based on the current state of the epidemic, Tedros has issued a proposal to countries around the world that in order to seize the current opportunity, we need to do our best to fight the final battle

Building on the evidence and experience of the last 32 months of COVID-19 around the world, the six briefs provide guidance on how to save lives, protect health systems and avoid social and economic disruption:

1.

At the same time, in terms of vaccination, the WHO recommends that countries around the world deploy vaccines to high-risk groups in areas where vaccine coverage (including enhancers) is incomplete, and recommends that countries invest in the development of vaccine products with improved characteristics to deal with mutations in strains, and do a good job of vaccine stockpiling to ensure that future vaccination efforts are sustainable

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus image from UN News

Commenting on the recommendations of the briefing, Tedros explained, "The WHO urgently needs governments to take a hard look at their anti-epidemic policies and strengthen policies

Tedros stressed at the meeting that the WHO has been working to combat the spread of the coronavirus since the end of 2019 and will continue to do so until the pandemic "really ends"
.

"We can end this pandemic together, but only if all countries, every manufacturer, all communities and individuals come forward and seize this opportunity,"
he added.

The current coronavirus may be underrated, but it won't cause a "death wave"

Even as Tedros announced that the end of the pandemic is just around the corner, many experts still have reservations
.

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical head of COVID-19, stressed that the virus is still "spreading intensively" around the world, and her agency believes the number of cases reported globally is underestimated
.

"We expect a wave of infections in the future, probably at different points in time around the world, caused by different subvariants of Omicron or even different other VOC strains," she said, reiterating her previous warning about the outbreak that the more the virus spreads, the more
opportunities there are to mutate.

Maria Van Kerkhove's image is from the World Health Organization

However, there is also an optimistic side to her view, adding that these future waves of infections will not necessarily trigger a "death wave" because effective measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic are now in place, including COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral drugs
.

So what exactly is the so-called end point? We might learn from a review by The Lancet magazine earlier this year to understand what "end point" means — "COVID-19 will continue but the end of the pandemic is near.
"
(COVID-19 will continue, but the COVID-19 pandemic is coming to an end)

In the review, author Christopher J L Murray said that in the future, the spread of the new crown virus will have less impact on human health because many people have already gained protection from different pathways — extensive exposure to the virus, regular vaccinations to adapt to new antigens or variants, or use antiviral drugs
.
And the vulnerable people of COVID-19 also know that they can protect themselves
in the possible waves of the future by using high-quality masks and social distancing.

Resources:

1.
The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight: WHO | |UN News

2.
World reaches ‘tragic milestone’ of one million COVID-19 deaths so far in 2022 | | UN News

3.
WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the COVID-19 media briefing– 25 August 2022

4.
COVID-19 will continue but the end of the pandemic is near - The Lancet

5.
End of Covid-19 pandemic is in sight, WHO director-general says, 'so let's seize this opportunity' - CNN

6.
Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 14 September 2022 (who.
int)

7.
COVID-19 policy briefs (who.
int)

8.
WHO policy brief: COVID-19 testing, 14 September 2022