"COVID-19 will no doubt still be a major topic of discussion, but I believe and hope that with the right efforts, this will be the year the public health emergency officially ends," Tedros told a briefing.
The WHO chief added that the world is now in "a much better place" than it was a few years ago due to improvements in clinical care, vaccines, and treatments, Sputnik reported.
However, there are still serious disparities in "access to testing, treatment and vaccination," and ultimately COVID-19 remains "a dangerous virus" for human health, the economy and society at large, he added.
The pandemic has gripped the world since early 2020. The first reports of an outbreak in Wuhan, China, emerged in December 2019. More than 6.6 million people have died of the virus worldwide.
MNA/PR