WHO chief hopeful COVID emergency will end next year
JP Yim

The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a media briefing on Wednesday he is "hopeful" that COVID-19 will not be recognized as a global emergency at some point next year.
His remarks come amid concerns of a potential COVID spike in China as the World's second-largest economy emerges from its strict "zero-COVID" policy.
In September, Dr. Tedros said that the World has never been in a better position to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Days later, President Joe Biden said that "the pandemic is over," sending shares of COVID-19 vaccine makers lower.
A committee of the WHO meets every few months to discuss whether COVID-19 fits the criteria to be declared as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the global body's highest level of warning.
Leading COVID-19 vaccine makers: Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/ BioNTech (BNTX), Moderna (MRNA), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Novavax (NVAX), AstraZeneca (AZN), Sinovac Biotech (SVA), Sinopharm Group (OTCPK:SHTDF) (OTCPK:SHTDY), CanSino Biologics (OTCPK:CASBF), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)/ Sanofi (SNY), Valneva SE (VALN)
Largest U.S. manufacturers of rapid COVID-19 antigen tests: Becton, Dickinson (BDX), QuidelOrtho (QDEL), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY)
Makers of COVID-19 therapeutics: Gilead (GILD), Pfizer (PFE), Merck (MRK)
First detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, COVID-19 has killed more than 6.6M people across the World. The U.S. declared the pandemic a national emergency in March 2020. In November, the Biden administration did not indicate any plans to end the emergency status when the declaration expires in January.