Covid-19 is no longer considered a “global health emergency” by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The remark is a significant step toward ending the epidemic and comes three years after it initially proclaimed the virus to be at the highest level of alert.
The virus’s fatality rate had plummeted from more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021 to just over 3,500 on April 24, according to officials.
According to the WHO’s director-general, at least seven million people perished as a result of the pandemic.
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Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, however, stated that the genuine total was “likely” closer to 20 million deaths – nearly three times the official estimate – and cautioned that the virus remained a serious concern.
“The Emergency Committee met for the 15th time yesterday and recommended that I declare an end to the international public health emergency.” That advice has been accepted. “It is with great optimism that I declare Covid-19 a global health emergency,” Dr Tedros added.
He went on to say that the choice had been carefully examined for some time and was based on extensive data analysis.
However, he cautioned that the removal of the highest degree of alert did not mean the danger had passed, and that the emergency status might be resumed if the situation altered.
“The worst thing any country can do now is let down its guard, dismantle the systems it has built, or send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to be concerned about,” he warned.
In January 2020, the World Health Organization classified Covid-19 a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
This indicated the necessity for global coordination to protect humans from the new pathogen.
Individual countries will now be responsible for managing Covid in the manner they deem most appropriate.
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Vaccines were a critical turning point in the pandemic. According to the WHO, 13 billion doses have been administered, protecting many people from serious disease and death.
However, in many countries, vaccines have not reached the majority of individuals in need.
There have been about 765 million confirmed Covid infections worldwide.
The United States and the United Kingdom, like many other countries, have previously discussed “living with the virus” and have reduced many of the tests and social mixing laws.
According to Dr. Mike Ryan of the WHO’s health emergencies section, the emergency may have passed, but the threat remains.
“We fully expect this virus to continue to transmit,” he stated, citing the history of pandemics.
“It took decades for the last vestiges of the 1918 pandemic virus to fade.”
“In most cases, pandemics truly end when the next pandemic begins.”
