WHO 'hopeful' it can declare Covid-19 pandemic as over next year

The WHO also said millions of people also remain at high risk of severe disease and death from Covid-19 due to the slow pace of the vaccine roll-out in some areas.

The World Health Organisation is “hopeful” the Covid-19 pandemic can be declared finished during 2023.

In a review published to mark the end of this year, global health chiefs said they are also hopeful of seeing the end of the current mpox outbreak (formerly known as monkeypox) and the Ebola outbreak in Uganda.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has declined significantly this year, the global monkeypox outbreak is waning, and there have been no cases of Ebola in Uganda since 27 November,” a spokesman said. “WHO is hopeful that each of these emergencies will be declared over at different points next year.” 

Although Covid-19 cases are rising in Ireland this week, the WHO is more optimistic now that an end is in sight.

“One year ago, we were in the early stages of the Omicron wave, with rapidly increasing cases and deaths. But since the peak at the end of January, the number of weekly reported Covid-19 deaths has dropped almost 90%,” the review found.

Despite the promising outlook, they stressed that for now “there are still too many uncertainties and gaps for us to say the pandemic is over”.  The WHO said gaps in surveillance, testing and genome sequencing mean they do not understand well enough how the virus is changing.

They also said millions of people also remain at high risk of severe disease and death from Covid-19 due to the slow pace of the vaccine roll-out in some areas.

Looking to the future and any possible pandemic occurrences, the WHO has established an mRNA Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa, to give low- and lower-middle income countries the ability to make their own mRNA vaccines.

The WHO also remains concerned about the impact of long Covid with millions worldwide coping with symptoms lasting longer than three months following an infection.

“Gaps in our understanding of the post-Covid-19 condition mean we do not understand how best to treat people suffering with the long-term consequences of infection,” the health body said.

The number of new mpox cases have declined rapidly in recent weeks, with new cases now also at 90% of the peak.

The number of new mpox cases have declined rapidly in recent weeks, with new cases now also at 90% of the peak. This was declared a public health emergency of international concern in July.

“Primarily seen in central and west Africa in the past, more than 83,000 cases have been reported from 110 countries this year,” the WHO said. “Fortunately, the mortality rate has remained low, with 66 deaths.” 

On a less positive note, the WHO said rates of childhood vaccination coverage globally have yet to recover from effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Routine immunization is one such area, where there has been the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in 30 years,” the WHO said.

“Measles is of particular concern, with an estimated 128,000 deaths from the disease and 22 countries experiencing large and disruptive outbreaks in 2021.”