President Joe Biden said he believes the Covid-19 pandemic is “over” in an appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” but acknowledged the U.S. still has a “problem” with the virus that has killed more than 1 million Americans .   

  “The pandemic is over.  We still have a problem with Covid.  We are still doing a lot of work on it.  It is — but the pandemic is over,” Biden said.   

  The US government still calls Covid-19 a public health emergency, and the World Health Organization says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.  But the President’s comments follow other hopeful comments from global health leaders.   

  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, told a news briefing last week that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic was “in sight” and that the world had never been better placed to end Covid.  -19 pandemic.   

  “Last week, the number of weekly deaths reported from Covid-19 was the lowest since March 2020,” Ghebreyesus said.  “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic.  We’re not there yet, but the end is in sight.”   

  Last month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adjusted its guidance on Covid-19 to urge the nation to move away from measures like quarantine and social distancing and instead focus on reducing severe disease from Covid-19.  But the agency says some people, including those who are older, immunocompromised, have certain disabilities or underlying health conditions, are at higher risk for serious illness and may need to take more precautions.   

  There were about 65,000 new cases of Covid-19 reported each day for the past two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and reported cases are falling in almost every state.  Across the United States, about 400 people die each day from Covid-19.  Although official case counts are not representative of actual levels of transmission, projections published by the CDC say new hospitalizations and deaths will remain flat for the next month.   

  For people hospitalized for Covid-19, the risk of death fell to its lowest level ever during the Omicron wave, according to a study published last week by the CDC.  The researchers suggest that there were several factors that contributed to the improved mortality risk: high levels of immunity, both from vaccination and prior infection, advances in treatments, and properties of the Omicron subvariants that made them less likely to cause disease.   

  This story is breaking and will be updated.