The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that at this stage it is premature to talk about the end of the fight against coronavirus before the end of the year, said Michael Ryan, WHO Emergency Program Director. This is reported by TASS.
At the same time, Ryan noted that vaccination is “gradually beginning to have an effect” on the coronavirus. The possibility of ending the fight against the pandemic by the end of the year was also doubted by the chief researcher at WHO, Sumya Swaminathan. According to her, the organization expects that thanks to vaccinations, the number of hospitalizations, deaths and cases of severe course of COVID-19 will be reduced by the end of the year.
Earlier, WHO Director-General Tedros Adan Ghebreyesus said that the number of new cases of coronavirus infection last week increased for the first time in seven weeks. He pointed out that many countries have loosened the prohibitions necessary to defeat the epidemic, and therefore the increase in the number of new cases was “disappointing, but not unexpected.” Ghebreyesus warned that countries should not rely solely on the effect of vaccinations, public health measures remain the backbone of the fight against the pandemic.