He stressed that eradication or elimination of the virus would be very unlikely, if not impossible. However, Ryan did mention that vaccines and therapeutic drugs can eliminate the public health threat associated with the virus.

He predicted that the number of COVID-19 infections will continue to increase each winter in the northern hemisphere, just like flu or any other seasonal illness.

Globally, over 765 million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded and nearly 7 million people have died from infection. As of the end of April, a total of 13 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered worldwide.