It said the true figures were likely to be much higher. “The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about,” he said.Ĭovid has officially claimed more than 6.9 million lives, and affected the health of more than 765 million others, according to the WHO. Tedros said the decision to downgrade the alert status did not mean the danger was over, cautioning that the emergency status could be reinstated if the situation changed. The WHO does not declare the beginning or end of pandemics, although it did start using the term for Covid in March 2020. Lifting it is a sign of the progress the world has made in these areas, but Covid-19 is here to stay, health officials believe, even if it no longer represents an emergency. The global health emergency status helped focus international attention on the Covid threat, as well as bolstering collaboration on vaccines and treatments. Last week, Covid-19 claimed a life every three minutes – and that’s just the deaths we know about.” However, that does not mean Covid-19 is over as a global health threat. He added: “It’s therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency. “Yesterday, the emergency committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern,” said Tedros. The disease still killed someone every three minutes, he said. While the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Friday the UN health agency was downgrading Covid’s alert status, he also delivered a stark warning about its persistent threat.
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