The World Health Organisation hopes the coronavirus crisis can be over in less than two years, the agency’s chief said on Friday.

The Spanish flu that hit in 1918 took two years to end, said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Our situation now with more technology, of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading, it can move fast,” he said.

“At the same time we have the technology and knowledge to stop it.

“So we hope to finish this pandemic (in) less than two years.”

He urged “national unity” and “global solidarity”.

“That is really key with utilising the available tools to the maximum and hoping that we can have additional tools like vaccine,” he said.

More than 22.81 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and 793,382​ have died.

In the UK, 41,405 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.

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