The likelihood that the coronavirus pandemic will end during 2023 and be reduced to the level of an epidemic with only local outbreaks and less risk to humanity, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, mentioned in a speech on Monday.

Speaking at an event at the University of Michigan in the US, an Ethiopian spokesman said that globally, “for the first time, the weekly number of reported deaths is lower than three years ago when we first used the word ‘pandemic.’ The improvement is significant. I sure that sometime this year we will be able to say that Covid-19 has ended as a public health emergency of international concern and as a pandemic,” Mr Gebregesus said.

According to him, now the most important thing is that we all learn the lessons of the pandemic. The first is the importance of public health. The second lesson is the importance of science, and the third is the importance of cooperation.

Last Saturday, March 11, it was three years since the WHO first announced that the global Covid-19 outbreak should be classified as a pandemic.

My comments on @UMichThomas Francis Jr. Medal at the Global Public Health Awards https://t.co/oJcgezni9H

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 13, 2023

“However, from the perspective of WHO, six weeks ago, on January 30, 2020, there was a much more important moment when I declared a public health emergency of international concern,” the head of WHO said.

He added that there were fewer than 100 cases of Covid-19 outside of China at the time, and no deaths were reported outside of China. Three years later, almost 7 million Covid-19 deaths were recorded, although the actual death toll is much higher.

“However, we are now in a much better position than at any other time during the pandemic,” the WHO chief said.