In a big announcement, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday declared that Covid-19 is no longer a global public health emergency.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he made the decision following a recommendation from the WHO’s emergency committee, which met on Thursday for the 15th time.
“It is therefore with great hope that I declare #COVID19 over as a global health emergency.
However, that does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat.
Last week, COVID-19 claimed a life every three minutes – and that’s just the deaths we know about”-@DrTedros pic.twitter.com/n6zad8qSdx
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 5, 2023
“I have accepted that advice,” Tedros said. “It is therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency.”
“For more than a year, the pandemic has been on a downward trend, with population immunity increasing from vaccination and infection, mortality decreasing and the pressure on health systems easing. This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19,” Tedros said Friday.
However, he noted that worldwide, someone died of Covid every three minutes last week — a figure that only includes reported deaths.
“The worst thing any country could 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,” Tedros said.
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.
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.
