The World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed this Friday, May 5, the end of the global health emergency caused by Covid-19. This announcement marks a major turning point after a pandemic that caused the death of at least 20 million people across the globe and caused profound economic disruption on a global scale.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said optimistically that Covid-19 was no longer considered a global health emergency. This decision came following the recommendation of the emergency committee, meeting for the fifteenth time, which advised to put an end to this international emergency. The death toll of this disease has been revised upwards (nearly 20 million dead), almost triple the previous official WHO count.
COVID-19: Retrospective on the international health emergency
On January 20, 2020, the WHO emergency committee initially declared Covid-19 a public health emergency of international concern. The purpose of this status is to raise international awareness of a health hazard and to strengthen cooperation in research for vaccines and treatments.
Thanks to the combined efforts of governments, researchers and health professionals, vaccines and effective treatments against the virus have been developed, the spread of Covid-19 has been gradually brought under control, allowing the WHO to lift the global health alert. .
Despite the waiver, the WHO says “the worst thing a country can do now is use this news as a reason to let its guard down.”
