WHO has announced when the coronavirus pandemic should end worldwide.
Upon announcing the forecast, the World Health Organisation said we now have “all the tools” to fight Covid.
Speaking at WHO’s last planned Covid briefing of the year, director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said , two years into the situation, “we know the virus very well and we have all the tools [to fight it].”
And he said next year should be the end of the health crisis: “2022 must be the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
WHO forecasts it could vaccinate the entire world’s adult population and give boosters to vulnerable people by the first quarter of 2022, as it has enough jabs to do so.
But, according to Politico, this can only be done by “implementing all the tools effectively” and “taking care of equity.”
“Unless we vaccinated the whole world, I don’t think we can end this pandemic,” Ghebreyesus added.
Maria Van Kerkhove, from the WHO health emergencies program, said her only concern is “whether we have the stamina to end it”, but insisted she thinks “we can.”
But Van Kerkhove warned the data for the new Omicron variant is “uncertain” regarding the severity of the disease.
Some pharmaceutical firms are already creating Omicron-variant jabs, but WHO warned they may not be efficient for other strains and advised companies to wait for WHO to announce which variant they should target – the same as for seasonal flu.
The international health organisation explained the best jab will most probably be one that targets the virus properties which make it more transmissible and more severe.
Meanwhile, the UK has reported more than 100,000 daily Covid cases for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Over the past day, around 106,122 cases have been registered – 13,000 more than the previous high of 93,045 on 17 December.
And another 140 Covid-related deaths have also been recorded.
On Tuesday, there were 90,629 cases and 172 deaths.
Last week, there were 78,610 coronavirus cases reported, the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic – and 165 deaths.
At the time, NHS England’s chief executive said the numbers should “worry us all”.
Meanwhile, care minister Gillian Keegan has refused to rule out lockdown measures for England soon after Christmas.
According to The Guardian, plans for New Year’s Eve parties in England may have to be scrapped based on Keegan’s declarations.
“There is uncertainty. So, if you can’t change your [New Year’s Eve] plans quickly, then maybe think about it. There is uncertainty. We can’t predict what the data is going to tell us before we’ve got the data,” she said.
Meanwhile, Scotland and Wales are both introducing new restrictions before and after Christmas.
Related: New entry requirements to many EU countries for Brits in 2022
