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The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that it hoped COVID-19 would no longer be a public health emergency in 2023, as it urged China to share information that could pinpoint how the pandemic started.

As the third anniversary of the original outbreak rolls around, the WHO said the virus was here to stay but would need managing alongside other respiratory illnesses.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the weekly COVID-19 death toll was now around a fifth of what it was a year ago—but was still far too high.

"Last week, less than 10,000 people lost their lives. That's still 10,000 too many, and there is still a lot that all countries can do to save lives," he told a press conference.

"But we have come a long way. We are hopeful that at some point next year, we will be able to say that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency."

The WHO's emergency committee on COVID-19, which advises Tedros on whether the virus constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), will discuss the criteria for declaring an end to the emergency phase when they next meet in January.

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