GENEVA, May 5. /TASS/. No less than 20 mln people died of COVID-19 worldwide even though the World Health Organization (WHO) received information on fewer than seven million fatalities, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva on Friday.

"Almost 7 million deaths have been reported to WHO, but we know the toll is several times higher - at least 20 million," he noted.

The official highlighted a downward trend of the pandemic over more than a year. Due to this, on recommendations by the WHO Emergency Committee, he declared "an end to the public health emergency of international concern" caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

According to the WHO, as of May 3, 765,222,932 coronavirus infections have been recorded worldwide with 6,921,614 fatalities. The public health emergency of international concern situation has been in effect since January 2020. It has been repeatedly extended based on the recommendations of the WHO Emergency Committee which convened once every three months. Its most recent meeting was held on May 4.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. On Friday, at a briefing in Geneva, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program Michael Ryan noted that although the organization had announced the end of the emergency situation over COVID-19, the pandemic itself was still underway.