World won’t finish with covid-19 by end-2021: WHO Agencies March 2, 2021 Geneva, Mar 2: The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that it is "unrealistic" to expect the COVID-19 pandemic to be over by the end of 2021. "I think it will be very premature, and I think unrealistic, to think that we're going to finish with this virus by the end of the year," Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said at a press conference here on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported. "But I think what we can, if we're smart, finish with the hospitalizations, the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic," he said.