MANILA — The World Health Organization (WHO) sees the lifting this year of the declaration of the COVID-19 disease as a public health emergency, according to an official Wednesday.

"I do think this is the year, the fourth year of this pandemic, where we can really end this as an emergency everywhere. We're on track for that," Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, said in a live question-and-answer session on social media.

The WHO declared the then novel coronavirus outbreak as a public heath emergency of International concern on Jan. 30, 2020, and then as a pandemic on March 11 that year.

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Kerkhove said that despite the continuous viral transmission all over the world, all countries now have tools to manage severe cases of the disease and death.

“We’re in a position where we can track this virus. We’re in a position where we can treat patients [and] prevent them from developing severe disease," she said.

"We’re in a position where we can prevent deaths. We just have to use those tools appropriately everywhere."

But surveillance and monitoring of infections remain critical as new and more transmissible omicron subvariants emerge, Kerkhove said.

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Based on WHO data from Dec. 5, 2022 to Jan. 1 this year, 14.5 million cases and over 46,000 new fatalities were reported globally. This translates to an increase of 25 percent and 21 percent, respectively, from the previous month.

According to the latest epidemiologic report, “current trends in reported COVID-19 cases are underestimates of the true number of global infections and reinfections as shown by prevalence surveys.”

Health authorities are one in saying that the chances of eradicating SARS-CoV-2 are next to impossible at this point.

But Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s executive director for health emergencies, is hopeful that the transmission of the virus "will be settling down into a pattern of some kind."

"I think this virus will transmit in all seasons. But [the] transmission will tend to be more intense in these seasons (during) which we all go inside and gather more (and) people are much closer together. That aligns very much with the same risks of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and flu. So we’re adding another virus onto that already heavy load on our health systems in the winter," he said.

The WHO reiterates the importance of vaccination and boosters, particularly among the most vulnerable.

While masking is now optional in most parts of the world, Kerkhove says it remains to be one of the hallmarks of the COVID-19 response.

“The recommendation is not for everyone to wear a mask everywhere all of the time. It’s really about knowing the type of setting that you’re in, where you’re going to be. Putting a mask, making sure it fits well over your nose and mouth, particularly when you’re indoor settings or ventilation is poor,” Kerkhove said.

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Kerkhove had previously shared the WHO's plan to end the global health emergency on COVID-19 in 2022.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed the same hope for 2023.

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The respiratory disease is believed to have emerged in China in late 2019. As of Jan. 10 this year, there are 660,131,952 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,690,473 deaths, reported to the WHO.

The agency said that as of Dec. 21 last year, a total of 13,073,712,554 vaccine doses have been administered globally.

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