A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson warned on Friday (March 18) that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic was a long way off, citing a rise in new infections in its latest weekly data.
"You can't sequence those you don't test…We need to maintain testing. We need to maintain robust sequencing. And we need to make sure we have good geographic representation of sequences so we can track this virus in real time," –@WHO's @mvankerkhove on #COVID19 surveillance. pic.twitter.com/jTkAXUY2y4
— Global Health Strategies (@GHS) March 18, 2022
The WHO has previously said that the acute phase of the pandemic could end this year. Asked by a journalist at a Geneva media briefing about the timing of the pandemic’s end, Margaret Harris said it was “far from over.”
Reported #COVID19 cases are again increasing despite reductions in testing, which means the cases we're seeing are just the tip of the iceberg. We call on countries to continue to:
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 17, 2022
Vaccinate
Test
Sequence
Provide early care for patients
Apply common-sense public health measures pic.twitter.com/qjmcrA88kh
“We are definitely in the middle of the pandemic,” she added.