Expert warns COVID likely a year from being treated like the flu, as WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says end 'is in sight'

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday claimed the world had "never been in a better position to end the pandemic", after the lowest weekly global death toll since March 2020.

But Dr Tedros warned "a marathon runner does not stop" before the finish line, urging countries against abandoning efforts to contain the virus.

University of South Australia biostatistics expert Adrian Esterman broadly agreed, saying the pandemic's "end" would be a "flu-like situation", with annual booster shots and treatments for the virus becoming routine.

"[But] there'll probably be at least another 12 months before we get close to it. We're simply not there, and so I think we've got to be careful," he said.

Researchers were developing vaccines capable of combating multiple COVID-19 variants, and Professor Esterman said nasal spray vaccines would be "much more effective" than those currently available.

Improved treatments also meant the landscape had shifted significantly since this time last year, he said.

But Professor Esterman warned that the long-term effects of COVID, often dubbed long COVID, were currently "way more severe than we got from any other viral disease".

"We still have to protect our vulnerable people, because it is nastier than the flu, even though you can make comparisons," he said.

Australia has progressively reduced isolation periods for COVID-19 carriers, this month slashing them to five days in most situations. But it has stopped short of following the UK in ditching COVID-related public health measures entirely.

Professor Esterman warned against the "UK route", saying a looming takeover of the VA 4.6 variant in in Europe was likely to be repeated in Australia.

"We can expect another wave coming up but, having said that, these waves are getting smaller and case numbers are coming down," he said.

"I think that the WHO have made the right call this time."

And with more than 3000 deaths in aged care homes across Australia, more than in the first two years of the pandemic combined, independent MP Monique Ryan said Australians had been left in the dark over eased restrictions.

Dr Ryan has called for a national summit on COVID-19, urging business, economists, and health professionals to thrash out plans for outbreaks of different severities.

"[We're] shutting up shop and pretending that COVID is no longer here," she told the ABC.

"The reality is that we have the highest mortality per capita from COVID."

Earlier, Dr Tedros told governments to maintain vigilance, despite declaring the world could "see the finish line" in its battle with COVID-19.

Failure to do so would lead to "more variants, more deaths ... and more uncertainty", he told a briefing of with journalists.

"A marathon runner does not stop when the finish line comes into view. She runs harder, with all the energy she has left. So must we," he said.

That included maintaining vaccination and testing regimes, while also combating misinformation related to the pandemic.