Two years into pandemic, is the end in sight?

Two years into pandemic, is the end in sight?

PARIS: Two years after the official start of the pandemic, some countries are now trying to “live with COVID”, however scientists warn that potential new variants and unequal vaccination rates threaten any long-awaited return to normality. When US global health researcher Christopher Murray wrote “COVID-19 will continue but the end of the pandemic is near”, in The Lancet medical journal in late January, he summed up the hopes of many national health authorities around the world.

In the weeks leading up to the two-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring a pandemic in March 2020, countries such as Britain and Denmark lifted all legal COVID restrictions. Many US states also relaxed mask and other rules. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the change marked the beginning of learning “to live with COVID”, as the global death toll falls after the more transmissible though less severe Omicron variant swept the world. The WHO has said that the “acute phase” of the pandemic could end by the middle of this year—if around 70 percent of the world is vaccinated.

From pandemic to endemic?

Spain has been among the nations calling for approaching COVID as having transitioned to an “endemic” phase, meaning it has milder