The COVID-19 pandemic has been raging for around 19 months now, scything across populations without discrimination.

Lakhs are already dead and many still dying across the world. One question dominates our collective mind: When will this pandemic end?

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief has a deceptively simple answer to this universal query.

The COVID-19 pandemic will come to an end “when the world chooses to end it,” said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

While delivering the keynote speech at the 138th International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Tokyo, Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus said what matters most is “how infections are handled.”

The WHO chief reiterated that people can successfully beat the COVID-19 pandemic only if the cases of infection are identified quickly, isolated rapidly, traced efficiently and cared for as fast as possible so that onward transmission is disrupted.

He urged the whole world to come together and unite for a common objective of vaccinating 70 percent of the global population by June 2022. “We have to do everything we can in order to get victory over the global pandemic with determination, dedication and discipline. We are in a race against the coronavirus, not with each other,” he emphasized.

“When health is at risk, everything is at risk, was the most important lesson learnt from the many that the pandemic taught us,” he said.

Wishing for the success of the Tokyo Olympics, the doctor tweeted, “The Olympics have the power to bring the world together, to inspire, to show what is possible.

May these #Tokyo2020 Games be the moment that unites the world, and ignites the solidarity and determination we need to end the pandemic together.”

Globally, 191.15 million (19.11 crore) confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 4.11 million (41.10 lakh) deaths, have been reported to the WHO, as of July 21. A total of 3.57 billion (357 crore) vaccine doses have been administered till July 20.