End in sight for COVID-19 pandemic, WHO chief says
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The world has never been in a better position to end the COVID-19 pandemic, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday, urging nations to keep up the fight against the virus.
"We are not there yet. But the end is in sight," Tedros told reporters at a virtual press conference as the U.N agency reported that deaths from COVID-19 approached the lowest since March 2020 last week.
While WHO expects the potential for future waves of infections, Maria Kerkhove, the agency's technical lead for COVID-19, noted that the world has vaccines and antivirals that can prevent the severe form of the disease.
Despite a downtrend in monkeypox cases, Tedros urged countries to continue the battle against the outbreak. "As with COVID-19, this is not the time to relax or let down our guard," he added.
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)
Largest U.S. manufacturers of rapid COVID-19 antigen tests: Becton, Dickinson (BDX), Quidel (QDEL), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY)
Makers of COVID-19 therapeutics: Gilead (GILD), Eli Lilly (LLY), Vir Biotechnology (VIR)/ GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Regeneron (REGN), Pfizer (PFE), Merck (MRK)
COVID-19 has killed more than six million people globally, and the U.S. declared the pandemic a national emergency in Mar. 2020.