On March 30, the World Health Organization (WHO) released an updated plan for COVID-19, outlining three possible scenarios for how the pandemic will unfold this year.
"Based on what we know now, the most likely scenario is that the virus will continue to evolve, but that the severity of the disease it causes will decrease over time as population immunity increases due to vaccination and infection," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
However, he warned that a periodic increase in the number of infected and dead may occur as immunity weakens, which "may occasionally require additional vaccination of a vulnerable group."
Speaking of two other potential scenarios, Tedros said either a less severe variant of the virus would emerge and no booster doses or new vaccine formulations would be needed, or a more infectious variant would emerge in which protection from previous vaccination or infection would quickly disappear.
The updated "Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan" sets out the adaptation guidelines that each country should implement to prevent the transmission of COVID and end the global emergency.
"This is the third strategic plan published by the WHO and will likely be its last, Tedros said."
The first report was published in February 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.
Bonus video:
