On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the end of the global emergency of the Covid-19 disease. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Secretary General of this organization, said during a press conference in Geneva on May 15 that the WHO emergency committee convened yesterday and proposed to end the public health emergency.
The international emergency is the highest level of warning that the World Health Organization can declare in response to the outbreak of global diseases. Tedros said at the press conference: “Consequently, I announce with great hope that the global emergency of Covid-19 has ended.”
The Secretary-General of the WHO emphasized that declaring the end of the emergency does not mean that Covid-19 is no longer a threat. He pointed out that thousands of people around the world are still hospitalized in the intensive care unit due to this disease, and millions of people are struggling with the long-term effects of the Covid-19 infection.
Tedros added: “Last week, Covid-19 killed one person every three minutes, and these are just the deaths we know about. The virus is here to stay. Still killing and still changing. “The risk of the emergence of new species that will increase the number of infections remains strong.”
Lawrence GustinDirector of the O’Neill Institute of National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, considers the decision of the World Health Organization correct. Quoted from Science websiteHe said: “The world has moved out of the international emergency phase and it is wise that the WHO does the same by ending the international emergency.”
Gustin added that although the announcement of the World Health Organization will not have much effect on the powers of this institution, it is a symbolic action from a cultural and political point of view. According to him, this decision sends a strong signal that the emergency phase of the biggest world war in our lifetime is finally over.
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