The COVID pandemic is “most certainly not over” World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday at the 75th World Health Assembly.

His warning comes as some countries are rescinding their COVID mandates, and cases are on the rise again.

“Reported cases are increasing in almost 70 countries in all regions,” Tedros said. “This virus has surprised us at every turn — a storm that has torn through communities again and again, and we still can’t predict its path, or its intensity.”

The WHO chief said that while more than 6 million global coronavirus deaths have been reported, the U.N. agency estimates that the worldwide tally is much higher at “almost 15 million deaths.”

Tedros called on countries to do all they can to eradicate COVID, including vaccinating 70% of their population, which would include 100% of people over 60 years old, 100% of health workers. and 100% of people with underlying conditions.

“The pandemic will not magically disappear,” warned the WHO leader, “but we can end it … Science has given us the upper hand.”

Meanwhile, Gallup, the global analytics firm, asks Americans every month — What is the most important problem facing the United States?

The answer has been COVID since the beginning of the pandemic. That all changed this March, however, when concerns about COVID were replaced with worries about the U.S. economy.

Gallup Senior Editor Megan Brenan said in an interview on The Gallup Podcast with Mohamed Younis that apprehension about how the U.S. government is handling the economy and inflation, now tops the list of Americans’ worries.

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Monday more than 525 million global COVID infections and more than 6 million global coronavirus deaths.

Source: Voice of America