COVID Is No Longer Global Public Health Emergency
Covid-19 is no longer a Public Health Emergency of international Concern (PHEIC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared.
According to the Director-General of the Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, COVID-19 is now an established and ongoing health issue and does not, therefore, constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
This was decided by the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee during its 15th meeting on Thursday, May 3, 2023.
The Committee holds that covid-related death trends, hospitalisations, and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions are on the decline whereas covid immunisation keeps increasing.
Acknowledging uncertainties posted by the potential evolution of the pandemic, Dr Ghebreyesus said, the Committee advised that “it is time to transition to long-term management of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
States have been issued seven recommendations as the end Covid public health emergency is declared.
WHO recommends that States Sustain the national capacity gains and prepare for future events; Integrate COVID-19 vaccination into life course vaccination programmes; Bring together information from diverse respiratory pathogen surveillance data sources to allow for comprehensive situational awareness and; Prepare for medical countermeasures to be authorized within national regulatory frameworks to ensure long-term availability and supply.
It also recommended that states Continue to work with communities and their leaders to achieve strong, resilient, and inclusive risk communications and community engagement (RCCE) and infodemic management programmes; Continue to lift COVID-19 international travel-related health measures and; Continue to support research.
PHEIC is defined in the International Health Regulation (IHR) (2005) as, “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response”.
COVID was declared PHEIC on March 11, 2020.
At the time, over 118,000 cases had been recorded in over 110 countries and territories.
As of May 3, WHO says that there have been 765,222,932 reported confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,921,614 deaths.
