The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday warned that the new coronavirus "may never go away" and could become just another endemic virus.
"I think it is important we are realistic and I don't think anyone can predict when this disease will disappear," WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan told an online briefing. "I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be."
However, he said the world had some control over how it coped with the disease by putting together "massive effort" to counter it.
"The trajectory is in our hands, and it's everybody's business, and we should all contribute to stop this pandemic," added WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
More than 100 potential vaccines are being developed, with the official noting that despite having vaccines, illnesses such as measles have still not been eliminated.
Thousands of Israelis have protested demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accept a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that would see the remaining Israeli hostages brought home from Gaza.
Russia has opened a criminal case against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and put him on a wanted list, the state news agency TASS reported on Saturday, citing the Interior Ministry's database.
The death toll from rains in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul rose to 56, local authorities said on Saturday morning, while dozens still have not been accounted for.
Hamas has said it is sending a delegation to Cairo on Saturday to discuss a deal for a truce and the release of hostages in Gaza, hours after US CIA Director William Burns arrived in the Egyptian capital, according to Egyptian sources.