Covid end is in sight: WHO

The head of the World Health Organisation said yesterday that the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide last week was the lowest reported in the pandemic since March 2020, marking what could be a turning point in the years-long global outbreak.

At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world has never been in a better position to stop Covid-19.

‘‘We are not there yet, but the end is in sight,’’ he said, comparing the effort to that made by a marathon runner nearing the finish line. ‘‘Now is the worst time to stop running,’’ he said. ‘‘Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap all the rewards of our hard work.’’

In its weekly report on the pandemic, the UN health agency said deaths fell by 22% in the past week, at just over 11,000 reported worldwide. There were 3.1 million new cases, a drop of 28%, continuing a weeks-long decline in the disease in every part of the world.

Still, the WHO warned that relaxed Covid testing and surveillance in many countries means that many cases are going unnoticed.

The agency issued a set of policy briefs for governments to strengthen their efforts against the coronavirus ahead of the expected winter surge of Covid19, warning that new variants could yet undo the progress made to date.

‘‘If we don’t take this opportunity now, we run the risk of more variants, more deaths, more disruption, and more uncertainty,’’ Tedros said.

The WHO reported that the omicron subvariant BA.5 continues to dominate globally and comprised nearly 90% of virus samples shared with the world’s biggest public database. In recent weeks, regulatory authorities in Europe, the US and elsewhere have cleared tweaked vaccines that target both the original coronavirus and later variants including BA.5.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid19, said the organisation expected future waves of the disease, but was hopeful those would not cause many deaths.