Published March 5, 2021, 8:09 PM BEIJING — With the COVID-19 vaccinations underway amid dwindling daily counts of new cases and deaths worldwide, the epidemic has shown a downward trend. Medical staff members from Jiangsu Province work at an ICU ward of the Wuhan No. 1 Hospital in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, Feb. 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu / MANILA BULLETIN) But experts around the world pointed out that it is still too early to talk about when the pandemic will end and vigilance is still needed as the “turning point” has yet to come. “It is premature to think that we’re going to finish with this virus by the end of the year,” Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Program Mike Ryan said at a regular press conference Monday.