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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO)
Photo: DENIS BALIBOUSE / REUTERS
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the end of the corona pandemic is in sight.
The number of reported deaths related to the corona virus in the past week has been the lowest since March 2020.
"We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
He called on the international community to seize this opportunity and step up efforts to fight the pandemic.
"We haven't reached our goal yet," emphasized the head of the WHO at the same time.
He compared the pandemic to a marathon.
"Now is the worst time to stop running," Tedros warned.
"If we don't seize this opportunity, we risk new variants, more deaths, more worries and more uncertainties."
The WHO published several recommendations to help countries to further contain the virus.
These include, for example, full vaccination of risk groups, including health workers and the elderly, as well as further regular testing.
Twelve percent fewer newly infected
According to the latest WHO report, the number of new corona infections worldwide in the week from August 29 to September 4 fell by twelve percent compared to the previous week to around 4.2 million.
However, the number of unreported cases is probably much higher, as cases often go unreported and many countries have also reduced their testing capacities.
According to the WHO, more than 600 million people have been infected with corona since the beginning of the pandemic at the end of 2019 - this figure is also likely to be far below the actual figure, as is the official number of 6.4 million deaths caused by the pandemic worldwide.
For Germany, the Robert Koch Institute had just reported a slight increase in infections and incidence: within 24 hours, the health authorities in Germany registered 51,299 further infections with the corona virus.
The official number of deaths rose by 109.
mgo/AFP/dpa