Rich nations urged to keep on fighting virus

'Blood on your hands' if world 'goes to sleep' on COVID-19, WHO official warns

LONDON — If rich countries think the pandemic is over, they should help lower-income countries reach that point too, said a senior World Health Organization official, as the world logs more than 614 million COVID-19 cases.

Bruce Aylward, a WHO senior adviser, warned that richer countries must not step back from tackling COVID-19 as a global problem now, before future potential waves of infection, Reuters reported.

In the past few weeks, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said the end of the pandemic is in sight, and US President Joe Biden has said the pandemic is over.