Covid-19 remains a public health emergency of international concern, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared last week, affirming that the global risk to human health and transmission remains high.

The silver lining was the WHO’s emphasis that the world may be arriving at an inflexion point. Higher levels of population immunity due to vaccination and infection, along with effective public health interventions, will limit the impact of the virus on morbidity and mortality, it said. Better diagnostic tools, more effective antivirals and public health measures have also helped.