The third wave of the pandemic in several countries is now driven by the Omicron variant of the pandemic. Unlike the Delta variant, the Omicron is less lethal but is highly transmissible. Several medical experts believe that the Omicron variant could result at the end of the pandemic, as people will become immune against the virus. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has now warned that the next variant of Covid will be definitely more contagious.
WHO's predictions on the progress of the Covid pandemic
While addressing a Q&A session on Tuesday, WHO officials talked about various topics which includes the lethality of upcoming variants and the timeline of the end of the pandemic.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's Covid-19 technical lead revealed that the next variant of the Covid pandemic will be more transmissible, as it will have to overtake what is currently circulating. She also added that it is impossible to predict whether the upcoming variants of the Covid will be deadly.
"The big question is whether or not future variants will be more or less severe. There is no guarantee of that. We hope that that is the case, but there is no guarantee of that and we can't bank on it," said Van Kerkhove.
When will the Covid pandemic end?
According to WHO, the end of the Covid pandemic completely depends on how humans behave. Van Kerkhove revealed that the Covid pandemic is not over yet, but she assured that it will end in the future for sure.
"You won't have to wear a mask forever and you won't have to physically distance forever. But for now, we need to keep doing this. We will get out of this, but we're not quite there yet," added Van Kerkhove.
She also urged people to wear masks and maintain strict social distancing measures to stay away from the pandemic.
