New Delhi: The World Health Organization declared on Friday that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency. The announcement by the global health body is a major step towards an end to the pandemic that has killed more than 6.9 million people, disrupted the global economy and devastated communities.
It is “with great hope that I declare Covid-19 as a global health emergency”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, estimating that the pandemic had killed “at least 20 million” people. killed – almost three times the official estimate.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced #COVID-19 as a global health emergency. pic.twitter.com/6Rm8bLJigI– ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2023
Tedros said that if COVID-19 “put our world in peril, he would not hesitate to call back experts to re-evaluate the situation”.
The WHO chief said the pandemic has been on a downward trend for more than a year, acknowledging that most countries have already returned to life before Covid-19. Expressing grief over the damage caused by COVID-19 to the global community, he said that the virus has destroyed businesses and plunged millions of people into poverty.
Its lifting is a sign of progress made by the world in these areas, but Covid-19 is here to stay, the WHO said, even if it no longer represents an emergency.
The WHO’s Emergency Committee first announced that Covid-19 represented its highest level of alert on January 30, 2020, more than three years ago. The status helps focus international attention on a health threat, as well as strengthen cooperation on vaccines and treatments.
More than three years later, the virus has caused an estimated 764 million cases globally and nearly 5 billion people have received at least one dose of the vaccine.