WHO declares end to COVID global health emergency but warns against complacency
COVID-19 no longer represents a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said on Friday (May 5), a major step towards the end of the pandemic that has killed more than 6.9 million people, disrupted the global economy and ravaged communities.
The WHO's Emergency Committee met on Thursday (May 4) and recommended the UN-agency declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern, which has been in place for over three years.
"It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding the end of the emergency did not mean COVID was over as a global health threat.
The WHO's emergency committee first declared that COVID represented its highest level of alert more than three years ago, on Jan. 30 2020. The status helps focus international attention on a health threat, as well as bolstering collaboration on vaccines and treatments.
Lifting it is a sign of the progress the world has made in these areas, but COVID-19 is here to stay, the WHO has said, even if it no longer represents an emergency.
The death rate has slowed from a peak of more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021 to just over 3,500 in the week to April 24, 2023, according to WHO data.
The WHO does not declare the beginning or end of pandemics, although it did start using the term for COVID in March 2020.
