World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said it was dangerous to assume that the acute phase of the COVID pandemic was coming to an end.
Tedros said it should not be assumed that the omicron variant was the last strain of any significance, and that the pandemic might soon fizzle out.
"There are different scenarios for how the pandemic could play out and how the acute phase could end. But it's dangerous to assume that omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame," Tedros told a WHO executive board meeting.
"On the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.''
However, Tedros insisted: "We can end COVID-19 as a global health emergency, and we can do it this year."
He said this could best be done by trying to reach goals like the WHO's target to vaccinate 70% of the population of each country by the middle of 2020.