Switzerland
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that Covid-19 deaths had dropped by 95 per cent since the start of the year.
However, it warned that the virus was still on the move and countries would have to learn how to manage its ongoing non-emergency effects, including the post-Covid-19 condition, Long-Covid.
"We're very encouraged by the sustained decline in reported deaths from Covid-19, which have dropped 95 per cent since the beginning of this year," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.
"However, some countries are seeing increases, and over the past four weeks, 14,000 people lost their lives to this disease.”
He added that the emergence of the new XBB.1.16 variant illustrates that the virus was still changing, and was still capable of causing new waves of disease and death.
"This virus is here to stay, and all countries will need to learn to manage it alongside other infectious diseases," he said.
Tedros added that an estimated one in ten infections resulted in Long Covid, suggesting that hundreds of millions of people would need longer-term care.
He said, however, that the WHO remained hopeful that it would be able to declare an end to Covid-19 as a public health emergency of international concern, when its advisory committee convenes next month.
02:22
Marburg virus: Rwanda issues guidelines as spread of disease worries residents
00:57
John Amos, Emmy nominee for the blockbuster 'Roots,' dies at 84
00:52
WHO reports almost 30,000 suspected mpox cases in Africa since the start of the year
Go to video
WHO grants first mpox vaccine approval to ramp up response to disease in Africa
01:01
James Earl Jones, acclaimed actor and voice of Darth Vader, dies at 93
01:06
At least 40 dead in Israeli strike on designated safe zone in Gaza