WHO head says COVID-19 death toll down 95 pct since beginning of 2023

GENEVA: The number of COVID-19 casualties has decreased by 95 per cent since the beginning of the year, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Wednesday.

"We're very encouraged by the sustained decline in reported deaths from COVID-19, which have dropped 95 per cent since the beginning of this year," Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing, reported Sputnik.

However, the pandemic threat is far from being resolved since the virus can still mutate and cause new waves of deaths, Ghebreyesus added.

"An estimated one in 10 infections results in post-COVID-19 condition, suggesting that hundreds of millions of people will need longer-term care. And, as the emergence of the new XBB.1.16 variant illustrates, the virus is still changing, and is still capable of causing new waves of disease and death," he stated.

He still remains optimistic about the possibility of WHO declaring the end of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2023, Ghebreyesus added.

According to the WHO tally, as of April 26, over 764 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed since the beginning of the global pandemic, while 6.9 million people have succumbed to the disease.

-- BERNAMA