The World Health Organization announced on Friday that COVID-19 is no longer considered a global health emergency. At the committee’s 15th meeting, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee discussed the pandemic and recommended ending the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) declaration. In a news conference on Friday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus agreed that the pandemic has been on a decline for over a year.
The International Health Regulations Emergency Committee recommended ending the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) declaration during its 15th meeting on COVID-19, which was supported by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The PHEIC declaration, created in January 2020, provides a framework for countries to follow WHO guidelines and declare their own public health emergencies with legal weight. The United States is set to end its COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, but WHO officials emphasize that the virus remains a global health threat, although it is of lower concern due to the decline in cases over the past year.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted that the declining trend in COVID-19 cases has allowed most countries to return to life before the pandemic. Countries have used their public health emergency declarations to mobilize resources and waive rules to manage the crisis. Although COVID-19 continues to spread and evolve, WHO officials state that the virus is of a lower level of concern. The declaration of the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency reflects the decline in cases and the framework created to manage the emergency rather than indicating the end of the pandemic.
Read the full statement of the World Health Organization (WHO) here – https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2023-statement-on-the-fifteenth-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic
