Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
The dawn of a New Year in many countries offers a collective moment for both reflection and ambition for the year ahead.
Now into the fourth year of the pandemic, the world is in a much better place than it was several years ago, due to clinical care management, vaccines and treatments.
For most of last year, COVID-19 was on the decline.
Vaccination increased across the world, and there was sustained progress in many low- and middle-income countries that had been left far behind in 2021 due to vaccine nationalism and manufacturing capacity being restricted to just a handful of countries.
New lifesaving antivirals were identified last year, which helped cut mortality further, although the rollout followed a similar pattern of rich countries first.
WHO is working as always to improve access and on Christmas Day announced that the antivirals Nirmatrelvir (Nir-ma-trel-vir) and Ritonavir (Rit-on-a-vir) were prequalified for production by an Indian manufacturer.
This is the first generic version of an antiviral to get WHO approval and should lead to increased production and access; particularly in lower- and middle-income countries.
But despite clear progress, the threat of COVID-19 persists.
There are still major inequities in access to testing, treatment and vaccination and ultimately COVID-19 remains a dangerous virus to our health, economies and societies overall.
Every week, approximately ten thousand people die of COVID-19, that we are aware of.
The true toll is likely much higher.
We are really concerned about the current COVID-19 epidemiological picture, with both intense transmission in several parts of the world and a recombinant sub-variant spreading quickly.
In recent weeks, there has been increasing reports of hospitalization and health system pressure, particularly in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere where respiratory diseases including flu are also circulating.
In the last week, WHO held a high-level meeting with counterparts in China to discuss the surge in cases and hospitalisations, and subsequently WHO's Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution and the COVID-19 clinical management expert network groups both met with Chinese experts.
We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing.
WHO is concerned about the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination, including booster doses, to protect against hospitalization, severe disease, and death.
This is especially important for older people, those with underlying medical conditions, and others who are at higher risk of severe outcomes.
With circulation in China so high and comprehensive data not forthcoming - as I said last week it is understandable that some countries are taking steps they believe will protect their own citizens.
This data is useful to WHO and the world and we encourage all countries to share it.
Data remains essential for WHO to carry out regular, rapid and robust risk assessments of the current situation and adjust our advice and guidance accordingly.
Outside of China, one of the Omicron sub variants originally detected in October 2022 is XBB.1.5, a recombinant of two BA.2 sub-lineages.
It is on the increase in the US and Europe and has now been identified in more than 25 countries.
WHO is following closely and assessing the risk of this subvariant and will report accordingly.
COVID-19 will no doubt still be a major topic of discussion, but I believe and hope that with the right efforts this will be the year the public health emergency officially ends.
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In other good news, Ebola in Uganda has not been detected since 27 November. If this holds and there are no cases by 11 January, the outbreak will be declared over.
The last years have been tough on our collective health but I remain confident and steadfast in the belief that only by working together can we:
harness and share science,
deliver solutions that save lives, and
build solidarity to counter the health challenges we face.
This year also marks the 75th anniversary of WHO's creation and we will be sharing more in the coming weeks and at the WHO Executive Board about our plans for this historic year.
Happy New Year! Together!
Christian, back to you.
