WHO director-general  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that completely eliminating the risk of COVID-19 is impossible.

On Wednesday addressing the International Olympic Committee meeting, the WHO chief said, that the Olympics should not be judged by the number of COVID cases. He said how the infections are handled matters the most.

“The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced, and cared for as quickly as the possible and onward transmission is interrupted,” he said.

“The mark of success in the coming fortnight is not zero cases,” Tedros said, noting the athletes who already tested positive in Japan, including at the Olympic village in Tokyo Bay.

11000 Olympians will be staying at the Olympic village.

“There is no zero-risk in life,” said Tedros.

“The pandemic is a test and the world is failing,” he said the world will have crossed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths before the games begin on August 8.

He also slammed the richer nations for hoarding the vaccines noting 75% of the world's vaccine shots have been delivered in the 10 countries of the world.

Tedros warned anyone who believed the pandemic was over because it was under control in their part of the world lived in “a fool’s paradise.”

“The pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it,” Tedros said. “It is in our hands.”