The main reason for the declaration is a decrease in the number of deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that the number of deaths worldwide from COVID-19 was the lowest since March 2020.
According to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Weekly Trend Report, the number of COVID-19-related deaths worldwide from 5 to 11 fell 22 percent from the previous week to 19,935. Over the same period, the number of new cases decreased by 28%.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Ethiopia’s secretary general, who served as Ethiopia’s minister of health and foreign affairs, used the word “end” and carefully added a clue. “We are not yet able to end the COVID-19 pandemic.” “Just as a marathon runner has to run to the finish line, so should we.”
As an important milestone at the finish, he stressed that countries around the world should strive to meet the 70% vaccination rate target for COVID-19 along with ongoing quarantine.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
–At the end of the long, long pandemic tunnel?
President Tedros previously focused on “the pandemic is not over” at a press conference on June 29. At this time alone, the number of deaths worldwide was stagnating and the number of confirmed cases was on the rise.
As a result, the observations that “we are not yet at the end, but we can see the end” are interpreted as a sign that the perception of the pandemic has changed. Reuters said the observations were the most positive assessment released by WHO since the outbreak of COVID-19.
If the WHO declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will soon lift the international public health emergency declared on January 30, 2020. It was the end of a long, long pandemic tunnel that no one knew at the time. COVID-19 will not go away, but it will become as endemic as the flu.
Some national experts see the resumption of daily life around the world, including trade, as six months into the future. Jeong Ki-seok, head of the Corona 19 Special Response Team at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, said on the 16th: “We need to start discussing the transition from the current Corona 19 emergency response system to a routine response system. Crown 19. “
–The Lancet medical journal directly affects WHO and governments
Coincidentally, on the same day the WHO Director-General held a press conference, a noteworthy report was released.
The report was presented by the 19 Crown Committee of the famous medical journal ‘The Lancet’. It is content that criticizes WHO and government responses to COVID-19 and suggests alternatives. The Lancet COVID-19 committee is made up of 28 experts from around the world, and 173 experts in each field have participated in its task force.
The Lancet Committee criticized the report, stating that “the WHO has been” too careful and too slow “on several important issues. Mansijitan’s mistake was summarized as follows:
○ Warning about the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the virus
○ International public health emergency declaration
○ Support for international travel regulations to slow the spread of the virus
○ Support for the use of bezels
○ Recognition of the virus by air (aerosol transmission).
January 2020, so maybe
Because the WHO and governments have faced such criticism, let’s go back for a moment to the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak.
COVID-19 became widely known around the world on the last day of 2019, when China reported it to WHO. On this day, China’s state central television (CCTV) reported for the first time that 27 people with pneumonia of unknown cause had developed in Wuhan.
On January 3 of the following year, Chinese public security summoned ophthalmologist Li Wenliang to investigate. Four days ago he warned of an outbreak of a SARS-like virus in a medical group chat room. Li Wenliang was infected with COVID-19 and died on February 7.
On January 5, the city of Wuhan, China announced that “no human-to-human transmission has been found so far” with the number of pneumonia cases of unknown cause rising to 59, including 7 serious.
On January 14, WHO lowered the risk, stating that “the possibility of human-to-human transmission is limited”, while mentioning the possibility of the virus spreading confirmed as the new coronavirus.
On January 15, the city of Wuhan changed its position slightly, stating that “the possibility of human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out”, but announced that “the risk is relatively low”.
In this period, several days have passed since the first death in China and about 10 people who had visited Wuhan from Hong Kong were diagnosed with the disease. Above all, it was the moment when the great migration began ahead of the Chinese New Year.
Cases occurred in Beijing and Shenzhen, China on January 20. The first confirmed case was also reported in Korea.
On January 23, the city of Wuhan began an emergency lockdown of the city. But it was already after the golden hour had been lost. Later, the party secretary, who was number one in the city of Wuhan, regretted saying, “I have a remorse of conscience.”
On the same day, the WHO Emergency Committee decided not to be in the process of declaring an international emergency. At the time, Secretary General Tedros said, “It is an emergency within China, but not an international emergency.” “There is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside of China.”
On January 24, US President Donald Trump tweeted: “China has worked very hard to contain the virus” and “On behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi Jinping.”
On January 26, a British expert warned that the actual number of infected people was between 30,000 and 200,000, and the University of Hong Kong published an estimate that the number of infected people was approaching 25,000.
On January 27, the US government issued a level 4 travel warning, the highest level in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, and a level 3 warning in all of China.
On January 30, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern. WHO declared a pandemic on 11 March. More than 120,000 people have already been infected in 110 countries.
–“Failure to comply with the basic rules of quarantine and cooperation between countries … What is the solution?”
The Lancet Committee has criticized the WHO and other international organizations and governments’ responses as “unreliable and ineffective”. Too many governments have not respected the basic rules and the great powers have not cooperated. He also claimed that the strategies established by the leaders of each country were arbitrary.
Of course, we cannot simply blame the WHO and governments. It’s all clear now, but back then there was a lot of confusing information. It was not easy to distinguish between signals (correct information) and noise (incorrect information). WHO overestimated the risk when the H1N1 virus occurred in 2009 and I recall it was confused by the accumulation of vaccines.
The Lancet Committee has proposed the formation of a new global advisory committee to strengthen the WHO budget and authority functions and to enable the WHO to make timely decisions as a way to better address the next pandemic.
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