Can the COVID-19 pandemic be defeated in 2022?
The WHO chief raises hopes of pandemic ending despite infection rates breaking records.
It is now the third year of the pandemic.
COVID-19 has infected 300 million people and killed 5.5 million.
Numbers of infections, largely driven by the Omicron variant, are breaking records across North America, Europe and Asia.
Despite this, the WHO believes the pandemic can end this year if countries work together.
Many studies have found Omicron causes milder disease than other variants.
Some scientists believe Omicron could displace Delta, and signal the beginning of the end of the health crisis.
But is such confidence justified?
Presenter: Dareen Abughaida
Guests:
Hadi Yassine – Head of research, Qatar University’s Biomedical Research Center
Oksana Pyzik – Lead at University College London’s Global Citizenship Programme On Outbreaks Of Infectious Diseases
Prasanna Saligram – Project coordinator, Equitable Access to Essential Health Technologies in the context of COVID-19