Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, according to the World Health Organisation, in a significant step towards ending the pandemic that killed over 7 million people and wrought havoc on the global economy. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva that he reached the decision based on the recommendation of the UN agency’s emergency committee, which convened for the 15th time on Thursday. I’ve taken your counsel. It is with great optimism that I declare Covid-19 a global health emergency, he stated.
He emphasised, however, that calling Covid-19 no longer a global health emergency does not mean that the epidemic has ended as a global health hazard. Covid-19 claimed a life every three minutes last week – and those are just the deaths we know about, Ghebreyesus said. Members of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee emphasised the decreasing trend in Covid-19 deaths, the decrease in Covid-19-related hospitalisations and critical care unit admissions, and the high levels of SARS-CoV-2 population immunity. Over the previous few months, the Committee’s position has evolved. Between April 3 and 30, approximately 2.8 million new cases and over 17,000 deaths were reported globally, a reduction of 17% and 30%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days.Regionally, the picture is mixed, with increases in reported cases and deaths in South-East Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Western Pacific, and decreases in other regions, according to the report.
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