The WHO has always been cautious about giving estimates on how quickly the pandemic can be dealt with while there is no proven vaccine.
Tedros said the 1918 Spanish flu "took two years to stop".
"And in our situation now with more technology, and of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading, it can move fast because we are more connected now," he told a briefing in Geneva.
Comment: By such logic, that should imply that it can spread and run its course in less time.
"But at the same time we have also the technology to stop it and the knowledge to stop it. So we have a disadvantage of globalisation, closeness, connectedness but an advantage of better technology.
Comment: How, pray tell, do you "stop" a virus that has already spread worldwide and which mutates? When we have "stopped" the common cold or flu, get back to us on that one, Tedros.
"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."
More than 22.81 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally since it was first identified in China last year and 793,382 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Comment: Meanwhile, the media and authorities are already prepping the UK for a pointless second lockdown. But worse, the UN is warning of a famine of biblical proportions due to the virus (primarily our response to it):