Acute Phase of Pandemic Could End in 2022: WHO

Acute Phase of Pandemic Could End in 2022: WHO
A sign of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 24, 2020. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Reuters
12/30/2021
Updated:
12/30/2021

GENEVA—The acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic could end next year but the coronavirus will not disappear, the World Health Organization’s Mike Ryan said on Wednesday.

Ryan, the WHO’s top emergency expert, also said it was too early to draw conclusions on the severity of the Omicron variant until it had spread more widely to older people.