Geneva

The international community can put an end to the coronavirus pandemic in 2022 if it takes comprehensive measures, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.

"The WHO continues to work nationally, regionally and globally to provide the evidence, the strategies, the tools and the technical and operational support countries need. If countries use all of these strategies and tools in a comprehensive way, we can end the acute phase of the pandemic this year," Tedros said at the opening of the 150th session of the WHO Executive Board.

There is a need to learn lessons from the pandemic and develop new solutions to prevent such emergencies now, "and not to wait until the pandemic is over, the WHO chief said.

The world has been plagued by the rampaging Omicron variant of the virus in the past few month that has sent the number of infections soaring.