On Friday, the World Health Organization warned that the COVID-19 pandemic might wane this year to the point where it poses a threat like the flu.  The WHO expressed optimism about the pandemic phase of the virus coming to an end and expressed confidence that it will be able to announce an end to the emergency sometime in 2023.

The WHO expressed confidence that it will be able to declare an end to the emergency sometime in 2023. Last weekend marked three years since the UN health agency first described the situation as a pandemic, though WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted that countries should have sprung into action several weeks earlier.

The head of WHO claimed that compared to earlier in the pandemic, the world is currently in a far better situation. He further added that he is very pleased as, for the first time, the weekly number of reported deaths over the past four weeks has been lower than when he first described COVID-19 as a pandemic.

The first infections with the new coronavirus were recorded in late 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The information comes from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and relates to samples taken in 2020 at Wuhans Huanan Market. According to Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for Covid at the WHO, there is molecular proof that certain animals, particularly those susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 disease, were sold on the market.

(Source: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/who-sees-covid-posing-similar-threat-to-flu-this-year/98744901 )