WHO chief calls on world to end Covid-19 within 2022

Geneva: Amid the Covid-19 variant Omicron spreading faster, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has called on the world to pull together to end the pandemic within the next year.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said new Covid-19 variant Omicrom was spreading faster across the globe. He said the "fastest way" to get back to normal was to make "hard decisions".

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

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He said, "Cancelling an event is better than cancelling a life. It is better to cancel now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and mourn later," he added.

The WHO chief said all of them wanted to get back to normal but for that they needed to protect themselves now. He asked governments to exercise maximum caution in the coming weeks and avoid events with large gatherings.

The Omicron variant was first discovered in South Africa.

Since the Omicron variant was first discovered in South Africa, it has now been reported in 89 countries and the number of cases is doubling in 1.5 to three days in areas with community transmission, according to the WHO.

Also read | India's Omicron tally reaches 200; most cases in Maharashtra, Delhi

The new variant is not more severe than the Delta variant, but is possibly more contagious and resistant to vaccines.

The new variant is not more severe than the Delta variant, but is possibly more contagious and resistant to vaccines.

On the inequity in access to vaccines, the WHO chief said: "If we are to end the pandemic in the coming year, we must end inequity."

-PTC News with agency inputs