WHO chief hopeful that Covid-19 emergency will be lifted this year

The World Health Organization chief said on Thursday, that the body is likely to lift the emergency status of Covid-19 some time this year. More than three years into the pandemic, WHO still regards Covid-19 as a public health emergency. The disease has killed millions of people across the world.

"I think we will be able to lift it this year," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said. 

The expert committee that decides on the status of the pandemic is due to meet in May. 

On the origins of Covid, Tedros said that WHO is sure that China had far more data that could shed light on the emergence of Covid. He demanded Beijing should immediately share all relevant information.

"Without full access to the information that China has... all hypotheses are on the table," WHO chief Tedros said in Geneva.

"That's why we have been asking China to be cooperative on this," he said. 

Tedros insisted that in the absence of complete data, "we will never know what happened or how it started".

Covid-19 started to spread in Wuhan during the latter part of 2019 and slowly spread throughout the world. But even today, there is no clarity on the origins of the virus. 

In the US, different agencies and experts have been divided over the matter. Some of them believed that the virus jumped naturally to humans from animals, while others say that the virus likely leaked from a Wuhan laboratory. China has vociferously denied all such claims. 

Also Read | Covid may have spread from infected raccoon dogs sold in Wuhan seafood market: Report

Towards the end of March this year, new evidence regarding raccoon dogs, known to be able to carry and transmit viruses similar to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, emerged. The animals were at a market in Wuhan when the disease was first detected in humans, researchers said.

In India, Covid-19 is making a resurgence with daily cases and the positivity rate registering an increase. The spike in cases is attributed to the XBB1.16 variant. A few BA.2.10 and BA.2.75 sublineage cases have also emerged in certain parts of the country.

XBB.1.16 accounts for 38.2 per cent of the infection to date, the latest INSACOG bulletin said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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