The World Health Organization declared Friday that the coronavirus pandemic is no longer a global emergency, ending a several-year-long international fight for disease security.
“It’s with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,”
“That does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat.”
– Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
The discussion to end the pandemic was held by the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Thursday.
“For more than a year the pandemic has been on a downward trend,” Tedros said at a news conference Friday.
“This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19,” Tedros stated. “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 have accepted that advice.”
The pandemic triggered unprecedented measures to be taken worldwide, with resounding after effects. Many nations closed their borders to the world, created internal lockdowns for their people, and struggled to deal with overfilled hospitals. Yet still, the pandemic caused an estimated 765 million cases, with just under seven million reported deaths worldwide, and stagnated economies on a global scale.
The UN health agency first declared the coronavirus to be an international crisis on January 30, 2020. The United States is set to end it’s public health emergency on May 11.
