WHO chief warns against talk of ‘endgame’ in pandemic

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that conditions remain ideal for more coronavirus variants to emerge and that it is dangerous to assume Omicron is the last one or that “we are in the endgame”.

But Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, also said the acute phase of the pandemic could still end this year – if some key targets are met.