World Health Organization declares end to global health emergency for COVID-19

Politico newspaper considered that the organization’s statement represents a major turning point in the global response to the crisis, which has claimed the lives of nearly 7 million people and caused about 65 million cases of “Covid 19”.

The decision to end the highest global health alert level comes more than 3 years since it was first announced on January 30, 2020, as the coronavirus spread outside China and WHO officials around the world became increasingly panicked.

However, experts in the field of health believe, according to their interview with “Sky News Arabia”, that despite the end of the global emergency, Corona and its variants have not ended yet, and therefore it must be taken into account that the health authorities pay attention to monitoring the epidemiological situation, and the condition of the injured, especially the most vulnerable groups. Dangerous as the elderly and people with chronic diseases.

What are the reasons for WHO’s decision?

• WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ decision, Friday, follows a recommendation from a panel of WHO experts that found the situation no longer met the criteria to be classified as a public health emergency of international concern.
• It is with great hope that I declare the end of (Covid-19) as a global health emergency.
• While there is no officially agreed definition of a pandemic, a public health emergency of international concern is a formal designation that leads to certain actions and recommendations under the International Health Regulations on surveillance, reporting and response.
• This status is issued for sudden events, which have public health implications outside a single country, and require immediate international action.
• “The worst thing a country can do is let its guard down, or send a message to its citizens that (Covid-19) is no longer something to worry about,” the global health chief warned.
• In recent weeks, global coronavirus cases and deaths have been declining, which are lower than during the worst waves of the pandemic.
• But even with the decrease in infections and deaths, the health organization was reluctant to remove the “emergency” designation, as the committee found at its last January meeting that there were still a large number of deaths from the virus compared to other infectious respiratory diseases and uncertainty about the emergence of mutants.
• Worldwide, there were more than 765 million cases of corona, while Europe had the most cases, with 276 million.
• WHO data showed that the death rate from the disease slowed from a peak of more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021, to just over 3,500 per week ending April 24, 2023.

The effect of ending the state of emergency

The WHO is currently setting up a review committee to develop long-term recommendations for countries on how to manage the coronavirus pandemic on an ongoing basis.

“The world is ready to move to the next phase,” said GAVI CEO Seth Berkeley, adding: “But while today marks a historic milestone, we must also be clear about the need to continue to protect our most vulnerable people, as we do with disease.” other preventable killers.

In an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, the clinical drug treatment consultant for infectious diseases, Dirar Balawi, said that many countries ended the global health emergency of the Corona pandemic some time ago before the organization’s announcement, specifying the consequences of that in a number of points, including:

• The declaration of global health means that the pandemic has ended and this virus has become endemic, and countries have become more able to plan and respond to this virus.
• There is no longer pressure on the global health system, as was the case at the beginning of the pandemic, and there is a sufficient level of community immunity, and a large outbreak does not occur.
• There are countries that were waiting for the declaration of global health, and they are developing countries with weak and medium economies, which receive international aid, and therefore these countries will now announce the end of the state of emergency.
• The pandemic has been broken, but it is still continuing until now, and the measures taken by countries to monitor the epidemiological situation must be considered.
• Many societies have been lax in prevention and precautionary measures to confront Corona, and this does not mean that the virus does not exist, as it still exists, just as many groups suffer from weak immunity and may be infected and exposed to serious repercussions.
• Care must be taken to obtain vaccines for people with weak immunity, and those who are being treated for chronic diseases.