Despite the “downward trend” in the epidemic, new variation are still a possible, according to the director-general of WHO.
Covid-19 is no longer a PHEIC, orPublic Health Emergency of International Concern, according to a Friday WHO statement.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, decided as a result of a recommendation by the Covid-19 emergency committee of the organisation.
The committee discussed discontinuing the PHEIC as its meeting on Thursday, citing the declining trend in fatalities and hospitalisations as well as the high levels of public immunity against SARS-CoV-2.
The next day, Tedros stressed at a news conference that Covid-19 continues to be a threat to world health and that the change in status does not indicate that nations should relax their security measures.
The moment has come for nations to move out of emergency mode and begin addressing Covid-19 alongside other infectious diseases.
The information was not unexpected. Late in January following the emergency committee’s most recent meeting, Tedros admitted that the epidemic was likely in a transitional stage.
This is not a hasty choice. It is a choice that has been thoroughly thought about for a while, planned for, and made in light of meticulous data analysis, ” he stated during the news conference.
The Path Forward
Tedros added in his statement that he also made the decision to form a review committee to produce long term recommendations for nations on how to handle Covid-19 moving ahead.
The WHO released an updated version of their Covid-19 strategic preparedness and response plan in Wednesday, outlining the steps that nations should take over the following two year,
The need to prevent nations from abandoning efforts to learn from Covid-19 and improve their pandemic preparedness, according to Nuzzo, is now of the utmost importance
