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The world has never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization said on September 14, his most optimistic outlook yet on the years-long health crisis which has killed over six million people. "We are not there yet. But the end is in sight," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a virtual press conference. That was the most upbeat assessment from the UN agency since it declared an international emergency in January 2020 and started describing Covid-19 as a pandemic three months later. The virus, which emerged in China in late 2019, has killed nearly 6.5 million people and infected 606 million, roiling global economies and overwhelming healthcare systems. The rollout of vaccines and therapies have helped to stem deaths and hospitalisations, and the Omicron variant which emerged late last year causes less severe disease. Deaths from Covid-19 last week were the lowest since March 2020, the U.N. agency reported.

Prime minister Boris Johnson has said he is cautious about rising cases of Covid in Europe, warning of gathering "storm clouds" of a new wave of coronavirus infections. He made the statement during a visit today (November 12) to a vaccination centre at a community pharmacy in Sidcup, London while encouraging people to come forward for Covid-19 boosters. The UK has had much higher rates of Covid-19 than the rest of Western Europe since the summer when Johnson scrapped coronavirus restrictions in England. However, rates in Britain are now coming down just as they are rising sharply in countries such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Parts of Eastern Europe have also seen a sharp rise in cases.