Covid could settle down this year, may pose similar threat to flu: WHO

This year, the Covid-19 pandemic may reach a point where it poses a threat akin to the seasonal flu, World Health Organization (WHO) said in a press conference on Friday. 

The WHO expressed confidence about the pandemic phase of the virus coming to an end and said that it will be able to announce an end to the emergency sometime in 2023.

The International health agency first referred to the situation as a pandemic three years ago in March, however WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus maintains that governments should have sprung into action several weeks earlier.

"I think we're coming to that point where we can look at Covid-19 in the same way we look at seasonal influenza," WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.

He added, "A threat to health, a virus that will continue to kill. But a virus that is not disrupting our society or disrupting our hospital systems, and I believe that that will come, as Tedros said, this year." 

The WHO chief said the world was in a much better position now than it has been at any time during the pandemic.

"I am confident that this year we will be able to say that Covid-19 is over as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)," he said.

Dr Tedros added, "WHO’s role would be to help implement the accord that countries agree. An accord that captures all the challenges we have faced is essential for making sure that the world does not repeat the mistakes that were made in this pandemic."