The Covid-19 pandemic is approaching its final phase, according to the WHO

After the downward trend in infections and deaths from Covid-19 globally last week, the Director-General of the World Health Organization confirmed that “the end of the epidemic is imminent.” Nevertheless, the entity continues to be considered an “emergency worldwide and in most countries”, as it has implemented a series of health policies to prevent an outbreak.

It is the most optimistic assessment of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the pandemic since the start of the health emergency by Covid-19.

On Wednesday, September 14, the entity’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at his weekly press conference in Geneva that the world was “never near the end of the pandemic.”

The announcement comes after nearly 11,000 deaths were recorded worldwide last week, the lowest number of deaths from the disease since March 2020, marking a turning point in the global outbreak.

The UN health agency also highlighted that in the past seven days there were 3.1 million new infections, which is a 28% decrease worldwide.

However, the World Health Organization has warned that easing testing and lower surveillance of the virus in many countries is leading to many cases undetected.

For this reason, the agency director requested that efforts to combat the virus continue, because, he noted, stopping now “means risking more variants of the coronavirus, more deaths, more problems and more uncertainty” in the future.

“Now is the time to run strong and make sure that we cross the line and reap all the fruits of our hard work,” said the Ethiopian public health scholar and politician, who continues to consider Covid-19 a “global emergency.” All over the world and in most countries.

FILE – WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks at a press conference in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday 11 February 2022. © Nardus Engelbrech/AP

The World Health Organization and its policies to confront the virus

The agency released a series of health policies based on “the evidence of the past 32 months about what is best to save lives, protect health networks and avoid disruptions that affect the economy and society,” in order to ensure that governments redouble their efforts against the Corona virus in this “final stage.”

Among the recommendations are investing in vaccination, in continuity of testing to detect disease, in laboratories to control potential new variants and in improving health systems, both in medical equipment and personnel.

The Covid-19 pandemic is approaching its final phase, according to the WHO

The Director-General warned that “future waves of infection are expected, most likely, at different times around the world, due to different sub-variables of Omicron or even by different variables of concern”, although he is confident that these “will not cause many fatalities”. “.

Covid-19 credit two and a half years after the pandemic

The virus, which emerged in China in late 2019, has killed about 6.52 million people and infected more than 609 million people, according to national reports so far.

In the Americas region, there have been about 2,826,385 deaths and more than 177,000,000 infections.

Brazil is the country hardest hit by the pandemic in the region, with about 34 million confirmed cases. Followed by Argentina, with nearly 9.68 million infected.

A health worker administers a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech at a makeshift clinic set up on Copacabana Beach ahead of New Year’s celebrations, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December 31, 2021. © Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

Among the countries most affected in Latin America are Mexico, Colombia and Peru.

For global vaccination, more than 4.94 billion people have been vaccinated with the full schedule. This means that 63.3% of the planet’s population is already fully immunized against the disease.

Latin America is the region with the highest vaccination rate in the world, led by Chile and Cuba. However, there are ten countries and territories in this region that have not yet vaccinated even 40% of their total population.

In October, the World Health Organization will hold a meeting of experts to decide whether the pandemic, which has shaken world economies and overwhelmed health systems, remains a public health emergency of international concern.