The world will have to endure the horrors inflicted by COVID-19 for at least two more years – or until 2022 – before this disease "ends," estimates Dr. Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Speaking at WHO headquarters in Switzerland on Monday, Dr. Tedros said technological advances and progress in medicine will help the world overcome the virus that causes COVID-19 "in a shorter time."

"Of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading," he said. "But at the same time, we have also the technology to stop it and the knowledge to stop it. So we hope to finish this pandemic [in] less than two years."

Dr. Tedros also emphasized the importance of "national unity, global solidarity" in fighting this highly infectious disease.

Dr. Tedros compared the raging COVID-19 pandemic to the 1918 Spanish flu, which lasted for two years. This disease, which likely originated in Kansas and not in Spain, infected 500 million people in four successive waves. It killed anywhere from 50 million to 100 million people.

At this time, the world only had a population of 1.9 billion people. More than 675,000 Americans died from the disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 is the deadliest in history.

The first known case of the Spanish flu was reported at a military base in Kansas on March 11, 1918. The first victim, or Patient Zero, was Albert Gitchell, a U.S. Army cook at Camp Funston in Kansas, who was hospitalized with a 104°F fever.

Dr. Tedros, however, isn't the first to predict an end to the pandemic in 2022. In May, a report from the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), predicted COVID-19 will likely spread for up to two more years, or for another 18-24 months. It also said the disease might infect up to 70% of Americans

"This thing's not going to stop until it infects 60 to 70 percent of people," said Dr. Mike Osterholm, CIDRAP director. "The idea that this is going to be done soon defies microbiology."

The team used prediction models, historic pandemic data and published reports about COVID-19 to develop its forecast for the next two years. Because of this, government officials should prepare for a long-term pandemic.

The report recommends the U.S. prepare for the worst-case scenario. This is one in which the initial wave in the spring of this year is followed by a larger wave in the fall or winter and one or more smaller waves in 2021.