COVID-19 patients are treated in a hospital in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, France (Photo: AFP/ VNA)

Mr. Tedros said at least 90% of the world’s population now has some level of immunity to Sars-CoV-2, due to prior infection or vaccination.

However, he said, the emergency phase of the pandemic is not over because gaps in surveillance, testing, sequencing and vaccination are continuing to create the perfect conditions for a new variant of concern to emerge that could cause significant mortality.