The World Health Organisation has warned that the pandemic "is nowhere near over".
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned people against thinking that the Omicron variant is risk-free.
He said although Omicron is more contagious than previous strains but appears to cause less serious disease, vulnerable people are still falling ill and dying from the virus.
Tedros also said that allowing Omicron to spread out of control by easing restrictions will significantly increase the chances of new variants emerging.
He said: "Omicron may be less severe, on average, but the narrative that it is a mild disease is misleading.
He added: "Make no mistake: Omicron is causing hospitalisations and deaths, and even the less severe cases are inundating health facilities."
However, Tedros said there are indications that the Omicron wave may have peaked in some countries.
He said this "gives hope that the worst of this latest wave is done with, but no country is out of the woods yet."
He also emphasised an urgent need to address the growing pressure on health systems, especially in countries with low vaccination rates.
He said: "'Now is not the time to give up and wave the white flag. We can still significantly reduce the impact of the current wave by sharing and using health tools effectively and implementing public health and social measures that we know work."
He added: "Vaccines may be less effective at preventing infection and transmission of Omicron than they were for previous variants, but they still are exceptionally good at preventing serious disease and death."
Head of emergencies, Dr Mike Ryan also said the pandemic would end this year if the inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed.
He said: "We have a chance to end the public health emergency this year if we do the things that we've been talking about."
Mr Ryan told world and business leaders that the pandemic would continue if vaccines and other tools weren't shared fairly.
"What we need to do is get to low levels of disease incidence with maximum vaccination of our populations, so nobody has to die," he said.
"The issue is: It's the death. It's the hospitalisations. It's the disruption of our social, economic, political systems that's caused the tragedy - not the virus."
