WHO Chief: COVID Global Health Emergency Hopefully Ends Next Year
COVID-19 will no longer be a global health emergency sometime next year, urges the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"We're hopeful that at some point next year, we will be able to say that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency," he said.
He added, however, that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the culprit behind the COVID-19 pandemic, will not go away.
‘WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO COVID-19 Emergency Committee will discuss next month the criteria for declaring an end to the COVID-19 emergency.’
"It's here to stay, and all countries will need to learn to manage it alongside other respiratory illnesses including influenza and RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus), both of which are now circulating intensely in many countries," he said.
The WHO chief said one of the most important lessons from the pandemic is that all countries need to strengthen their public health systems to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond rapidly to outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics.
The Continuing Impact of COVID-19
Another key lesson is the need for much stronger cooperation in collaboration, rather than competition and confusion that marked the global response to COVID-19.Meanwhile, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, warned waves of infection and re-infection would continue around the world, as the number of weekly new deaths reported by countries still hovers between 8,000 to 10,000.
Before the WHO chief ends the COVID-19 emergency, a balance needs to be stricken between the virus -- including its impact and unpredictability -- and "whether or not we have dealt with the vulnerabilities and the resilience issues in our health systems," Ryan said.
Source: IANS