WHO chief says pandemic 'nowhere near over' and 'new variants are likely to emerge'

• The director-general of the World Health Organization said that the pandemic is "nowhere near over."
• "New variants are likely to emerge," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.

The World Health Organization's director-general said Tuesday COVID-19 is likely to continue to place a strain on healthcare systems around the globe.

"This pandemic is nowhere near over and with the incredible growth of Omicron globally, new variants are likely to emerge," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.

Ghebreyesus said tracking the virus remains essential for health care workers and noted that even mild COVID-19 cases are "inundating" healthcare facilities.

"The virus is circulating far too intensely with many still vulnerable," Ghebreyesus said. "For many countries, the next few weeks remain really critical for health workers and health systems."

As the Omicron variant surges, the world is averaging over 2.8 million daily new COVID-19 cases, according to the latest data from Worldometers.

In the US, which boasts a highest number of daily new cases than any other country, the seven-day average is nearly 800,000, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical advisor, said Monday during a virtual panel discussion at the World Economic Forum that it's too soon to tell if slowing the spread of the highly-contagious Omicron variant would spell the end of the pandemic.

"I would hope that that's the case, but that would only be the case if we don't get another variant that eludes the immune response to the prior variant," Fauci said.

He added: "It is an open question as to whether or not Omicron is going to be the live virus vaccination that everyone is hoping for."