This Friday (5/5), the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared that Covid-19 is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PII).
The status of “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” is the highest level of alert from WHO and is reserved for public health situations that require a coordinated international response, including sanitary and epidemiological surveillance among countries, efforts directed at inventing treatments and vaccines, and collaborating in providing medical supplies.
During this Friday’s speech, Tedros made it clear that Covid is still a threat to global health. “Covid-19 is still a threat to global health. Last week, Covid claimed one life every three minutes – and those are just the deaths we know of,” said the WHO director-general.
On March 11, 2020, Covid-19 was characterized by the WHO as a pandemic – the term refers to the geographic distribution of a disease rather than its severity. “It is true that the virus continues to circulate in all countries and that the pandemic is not over. It is true that there are many uncertainties, especially regarding the evolution of the virus. It is also true that there are major gaps in surveillance reporting and health care, particularly in the most vulnerable countries,” said Tedros.
Outbreaks, endemics, pandemics and epidemics have the same origin, what changes is the scale of dissemination of the disease. Who defines when a disease becomes a global threat is the World Health Organization (WHO)Getty Images
***photo-passengers-wear-mask-in-busAn outbreak occurs when there is a localized increase in the number of cases of a disease in a specific region.Getty Images
***photo-city-sanitized-with-smokeAn example is dengue cases: when many diagnoses occur in the same neighborhood of a city, for example, the authorities treat this growth as an outbreakGetty Images
***drawing-people-protect-themselves-with-masksEndemic is when a disease appears frequently in one place, not spreading to other communities. It is also classified seasonallyGetty Images
***yellow-fever-mosquito-photoYellow fever, common in the Amazon Region, is an endemic disease because it occurs during one season of the year and in certain locations in the NorthGetty Images
***photo-woman-wears-mask-in-epidemicEpidemic occurs when the number of outbreaks grows and covers several regions of a given city, for example. If this happens, it is considered that there is an epidemic in the municipality, but an outbreak on a state scaleGetty Images
***photo-epidemic-ebola-AfricaAn example is Ebola, which was considered an epidemic in 2014, after reaching several countries in AfricaGetty Images
***globo-photo-protects-against-pandemicA pandemic happens when an epidemic reaches worldwide levels, affecting various regions around the globe. For the WHO to declare the existence of a pandemic, countries on all continents need to have confirmed cases of the disease.Getty Images
***photo-pandemic-around-the-worldBefore Covid-19, the last time something like this happened was in 2009, when swine flu was declared a pandemic.Getty Images
***pandemic-drawing-and-mask-wearingThe bubonic plague, or black plague, which happened in the 14th century and killed 75 to 200 million people, is considered one of the greatest pandemics of humanity Getty Images
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