A monkey pox vaccination site in Los Angeles on July 27, 2022 (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The COVID-19 weekly death toll is a fifth of what it was a year ago, but countries still have a lot to do, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference on Wednesday. WHO’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on COVID-19 will discuss the criteria for announcing the end of COVID-19 public health emergency status in January 2023.

The WHO chief said there have been 82,000 cases of monkey pox in 110 countries, with a low death toll of 65. Weekly new cases have decreased 90% since the WHO declared monkey pox a public health emergency in July. If this trend continues, the WHO will end monkey pox’s emergency status in 2023, said Tedros.