The CEO of the World Health Organization ?WHO?, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, announced this Friday, May 5, 2023, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, after this Thursday the Emergency Committee met for the fifteenth time and recommended declaring the end of the public health emergency of interest international.
"Therefore, it is with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," Dr Tedros said at a conference this morning.
However, he clarified that the end of the pandemic does not mean that COVID-19 has ended as a global health threat.
"Last week, COVID-19 claimed a life every three minutes, and those are just the deaths we know of," he said. "As we speak, thousands of people around the world are fighting for their lives in intensive care units. And millions more continue to live with the debilitating effects of the post-COVID-19 condition."
In this sense, Dr. Tedros pointed out that "this virus is here to stay" and continues to kill and mutate, so there is still a risk of new variants emerging that cause new increases in cases and deaths.
"The worst thing any country could do right now is use this news as a reason to lower its guard, dismantle the systems it has built, or send the message to its people that COVID-19 is nothing to worry about," he stressed. .
In this regard, he specified that what this news means is that from now on countries can make the transition from emergency mode to the management of COVID-19 along with other infectious diseases.
“I stress that this is not a sudden decision. It is a decision that has been carefully considered for some time, planned and made on the basis of careful analysis of the data," he said.
However, he said that, if necessary, he will not hesitate to convene another Emergency Committee if COVID-19 once again endangers the world.
"While this Emergency Committee will now cease its work, it has sent a clear message that countries must not cease theirs."
Dr Tedros explained that following the advice of the Committee, he decided to use a provision of the International Health Regulations that has never been used before, to establish a Review Committee to develop long-term standing recommendations for countries on how to manage COVID-19 in Continuous form.
In turn, he said that the WHO published this week the fourth edition of the Global Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response for COVID-19, which outlines critical actions for countries in five main areas: collaborative surveillance, community protection, safe and scalable care, access to countermeasures, and emergency coordination.
«For more than 3 years, the experts of the Emergency Committee have dedicated their time, their experience and their knowledge, not only to advise me on whether COVID-19 continues to represent a global health emergency, but also to advise on recommendations for countries », he indicated. "In countries around the world, WHO has worked closely with governments to translate that guidance into life-saving policies and action."
“On one level, this is a moment of celebration,” Tedros stressed, noting that this moment has been reached thanks to the incredible skill and selfless dedication of health and care workers; innovation from vaccine researchers and developers; the difficult decisions that governments have had to make in the face of changing evidence; and the sacrifices we have all made as individuals, families, and communities to keep ourselves and others safe.
However, he said, "on another level, this is a time for reflection" as COVID-19 has left, and continues to leave, deep scars on the world. "Those scars should serve as a permanent reminder of the potential for new viruses to emerge, with devastating consequences."
"As a global community, the suffering we have endured, the painful lessons we have learned, the investments we have made, and the capabilities we have built must not go to waste," he stressed.
Tedros Adhanom noted that "one of the biggest tragedies of COVID-19 is that it didn't have to be this way," but we now have the tools and technologies to better prepare for pandemics, detect them sooner, respond faster, and mitigate its impact.
"But globally, a lack of coordination, a lack of equity and a lack of solidarity meant that those tools were not used as effectively as they could have been. Lives were lost that should not have been. We must promise ourselves and our children and grandchildren that we will never make those mistakes again," he stressed.
In his account, Tedros recalled that 1,221 days ago today, the WHO learned of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China, and on January 30, 2020, following the advice of an Emergency Committee convened under the International Health Regulations, declared a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of COVID-19, the highest level of alarm under international law.
At the time, outside of China there were fewer than 100 reported cases and no reported deaths. "In the 3 years since then, COVID-19 has turned our world upside down."
Nearly 7 million deaths have been reported to the WHO, "but we know that the number of victims is several times higher, at least 20 million."
He highlighted that during the pandemic health systems have been severely affected, with millions of people left without essential health services, including life-saving vaccines for children.
“But COVID19 has been much more than a health crisis. It has caused severe economic upheaval, wiping out trillions of GDP, disrupting travel and commerce, shuttering businesses and plunging millions into poverty," he said. "It has caused great social upheaval, with closed borders, restricted movement, closed schools and millions of people experiencing loneliness, isolation, anxiety and depression."
In this regard, he added that COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated political failures, within and between nations. It has eroded trust between people, governments and institutions, fueled by a torrent of misinformation and disinformation, as well as exposing the world's blistering inequalities, with the poorest and most vulnerable communities bearing the brunt and the last to suffer. access to vaccines and other tools.
Finally, for more than a year, the pandemic has been on a downward trend, with increased population immunity from vaccination and infection, decreased mortality, and decreased pressure on health systems. of health. This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before, he noted.
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