GENEVA, Switzerland, May 5, 2023 (ENS) – COVID-19 is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the World Health Organization announced today, following the recommendation of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic.
During their video conference Thursday, committee members highlighted the downward trend in COVID-19 deaths, the decline in hospitalizations and ICU admissions similar to respiratory illnesses, and the population’s higher levels of immunity to the virus that causes it, SARS-CoV-2.
Globally, in the more than 3 years since COVID-19 declared a public fitness emergency on January 30, 2020, there have been more than 765 million cases of COVID-19, adding up to more than 6. 9 million deaths, as reported to the World Health Organization, according to the knowledge of the UN agency.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the real toll was “probably” closer to 20 million deaths, nearly three times the official estimate, and warned that the virus remained a threat.
“It is with wonderful hope that I affirm that COVID-19 has ended as a global fitness emergency,” said Dr. Tedros. “This means that COVID-19 has ended as a risk to global fitness. “
The Committee said its position had evolved in recent months and that it now considers COVID-19 to be “an established and ongoing mental health issue” rather than “a public health emergency of foreign concern. “
Recognizing the uncertainties posed by the prospective evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Committee members indicated that the time had come to move to long-term control of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While noting that the number of deaths and hospitalizations reported during the week continues to decline, Dr. Tedros expressed fear that surveillance reports to the World Health Organization have “declined significantly,” that there remains “unequal access to life-saving interventions,” and that “pandemic fatigue continues to grow. “
Dr Tedros announced the COVID-19 Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response 2023-2025 designed to advise countries on the transition to long-term management of COVID-19.
The plan outlines vital movements that countries want in five areas: collaborative surveillance, network protection, secure and scalable care, access to countermeasures, and emergency coordination.
Dr Tedros said he would convene a Review Committee of the International Health Regulations to advise on ongoing recommendations for the long-term control of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, taking into account the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan 2023-2025.
During this transition, WHO advises countries to continue with the transience recommendations issued. The Director-General expressed his gratitude to the Chairman of the Emergency Committee, Professor Didier Houssin, former Director-General of Health in France; Committee members and advisors for their commitment and recommendation over the past 3 years.
Warning that the number of new variants remains, Dr Tedros said: “COVID-19 has replaced our world and replaced us. “
Mixed worldwide reaction
In the United States, President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that dual national emergencies to combat COVID-19 would end on May 11.
More than 1. 1 million people in the U. S. have died from COVID-19 since 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, which numbered about 3700 last week.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced her intention to leave the company at the end of June. Walensky has led the CDC through a transition to greater normalcy across the country, following two years of COVID-19 closures and waves of harmful harm. New virus variants.
In a letter to President Joe Biden, Dr. Walensky wrote, “The end of the COVID-19 public fitness emergency marks a tremulous transition for our country, for public fitness, and in my tenure as CDC director. I took this position, at his request, with the purpose of getting out of the dark days of the pandemic and moving the CDC—and public fitness—to a much larger, more reliable place.
“In the process, we stored and advanced lives, the country, and the world from the greatest risk of infectious disease we have noticed in more than a hundred years,” Walensky wrote.
May 11 marks the end of the U. S. federal declaration. UU. de a COVID-19 public fitness emergency. Most tools, such as vaccines, remedies, and tests, will remain available. expire.
Lately, the U. S. government. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration is distributing loose COVID-19 vaccines to all adults and children. To help communities against COVID-19, Health and Human Services, HHS, remains committed to maximizing continued access to COVID-19 vaccines. 19 The tests may not be covered by insurance.
All hospitals must report their data by the end of April 2024. This provides a uniform and comprehensive form of weekly tracking of severe COVID-19 cases at the county level. This data will change from a report to a weekly report shortly thereafter. May 11.
After May 25, the CDC will verify positivity data at the regional point of the National Enteric and Respiratory Virus Surveillance System, a long-standing formula with more than 450 national laboratories submitting data voluntarily. These data may provide early indications of COVID-19 transmission.
See all CDC settings here.
Speaking on behalf of the European Union, President Ursula von der Leyen said today: “Finally, after more than 3 years, COVID-19 is no longer a global fitness emergency. That’s news. “
“This pandemic has taken a heavy toll on people, our society and our economy. But we have managed to triumph over it, thank you for taking a decision at global, EU and Member State level, and the resilience and solidarity of our citizens. ,” she said.
“It taught us that the strength of the EU lies in its unity, adding up in the face of major health crises. European solidarity, sharing medical supplies, treating patients or helping to repatriate citizens, and rebuilding our economies, has helped our citizens in combination and triumph over the most difficult stages of the pandemic,” von der Leyen said.
“This pandemic has replaced the face of the EU in a true European Health Union. We are now much more prepared to deal with long-term fitness crises, with new equipment to temporarily respond to emerging fitness crises. We have strengthened our fitness safety framework and crisis preparedness mechanisms. We created the Health Emergency and Response Authority to be better prepared for long-term physical emergencies. We have a stronger European Medicines Agency and a stronger European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. “
“However,” President von der Leyen said, “vigilance remains crucial. Although the pandemic has passed, it is transparent that COVID-19 remains a global fitness risk and will remain a component of our lives in the foreseeable long term. . . Therefore, we will have to continue our monitoring and surveillance, making sure of the vaccination of vulnerable people, to be prepared for long-term health crises.
In London, UK, Dr. Zaeem Haq, global medical director at the nonprofit Save the Children, said the WHO’s announcement that it would no longer be a public health emergency over foreign fear of COVID-19 was a “crucial step” but it was not to eradicate the most demanding situations faced lately by millions of young people around the world.
“Over the past 3 years, COVID-19 has altered young people’s lives, denying them access to education, fitness and coverage, deepening global inequalities and plunging some hundred million more young people into poverty, although COVID-19 is no longer officially a ‘public fitness emergency of foreign concern’, the virus is here to stay,” Dr. Haq said.
“Many vulnerable communities around the world are still unvaccinated, increasing the threat of death and ill health, and many millions of young people are still facing the effects of the pandemic every day and will most likely continue to do so for years to come. ,” he said.
“COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns, the shutdown of the global economy and the disruption of have caused an unprecedented crisis for young people, putting their physical and intellectual health, education, coverage and economic well-being at risk. This, combined with the effects of the shock and the climate crisis, has exacerbated existing inequalities and hit the most marginalized young people hardest.
“An estimated one hundred million more young people have fallen into poverty and the threat of famine has increased worldwide. More than 1500 million young people have had their schooling interrupted and experienced an increase in violence when schools have closed,” said Dr. Haq. “An estimated 10. 5 million young people have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19, and the pandemic has triggered a global crisis of intellectual fitness, with 83% of young people reporting an accumulation of negative emotions as a result. “
Brazil ended the public emergency due to COVID-19 more than a year ago.
Brazil’s Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, announced the end of the state of public physical emergency due to the pandemic in a radio and television broadcast on April 17, 2022. He said the announcement was imaginable due to “the improvement of the epidemiological scenario, the wide vaccination coverage and the healthcare capacity of Brazil’s national public health system).
“This measure does not mean the end of COVID-19. We will continue to live with the virus,” the minister said. Brazilians”.
In Brazil, from 3 January 2020 to 3 May 2023, there were 37,449,418 cases of COVID-19 with 701,494 deaths, reported to WHO.
Featured image: A workshop organized by Lao PDR Ministry of Health officials and UN Women local components on the importance of hygiene in restricting COVID-19. Hygiene kits and food have been distributed to families as a component of post-COVID relief efforts. 8 February 2023, Jor village, Beng district, Oudomxay, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. (Photo by Nicholas Axelrod, courtesy of UN Women)
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