Covid global health emergency is over, WHO says
The World Health Organization
(WHO) has declared that Covid-19 no longer represents a "global health
emergency".
The statement represents a major step towards ending the
pandemic and comes three years after it first declared its highest level of
alert over the virus.
Officials said the virus' death rate had dropped from a peak of
more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021 to just over 3,500 on 24
April.
The head of the WHO said at least seven million people died in
the pandemic.
'Great hope'
But Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the true figure was
"likely" closer to 20 million deaths - nearly three times the
official estimate - and he warned that the virus remained a significant threat.
"Yesterday, the Emergency Committee met for the 15th time
and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of
international concern. I've accepted that advice. It is therefore with great
hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency," Dr Tedros
said.
He added that the decision had been considered carefully for
some time and made on the basis of careful analysis of data.
But he warned the removal of the highest level of alert did not
mean the danger was over and said the emergency status could be reinstated if
the situation changed.
"The worst thing any country can do now is to use this news
as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to
send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about,"
he said.
The World Health Organization first declared Covid-19 to be a
public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in January 2020.
This signalled the need for coordinated global action to protect
people from the new virus.
It will now be up to individual countries to continue to manage
Covid in the way they think best.
Vaccines were one of the major turning points in the pandemic.
According to the WHO, 13 billion doses have been given, allowing many people to
be protected from serious illness and death.
But in many countries’ vaccines have not reached most of those
in need.
More than 765 million confirmed Covid infections have been
recorded worldwide.
The US and UK, like many other countries, have already talked
about "living with the virus" and wound down many of the tests and
social mixing rules.
Dr Mike Ryan, from the WHO's health emergencies programme, said
the emergency may have ended, but the threat is still there.
"We fully expect that this virus will continue to transmit
and this is the history of pandemics," he said.
"It took decades for the final throes of the pandemic virus
of 1918 to disappear.
"In most cases, pandemics truly end when the next pandemic begins."
