The number of corona deaths reported weekly was around 5,000 last week for the first time lower than three years ago, when the World Health Organization (WHO) first spoke of a pandemic. This is a positive development, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday in Geneva.

The fact that Tedros uttered the word pandemic for the first time on March 11, 2020 shook the world awake. However, the WHO had already declared the highest alert level six weeks earlier, on January 30, when it declared an emergency of international scope. At the time there were fewer than 100 cases outside of China and no deaths.

"I am confident that this year we can say that Covid-19 is over as an emergency of international concern," said Tedros.