“WHO declares COVID-19 no longer an international emergency after 3 years: Is the pandemic over?”

The director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reported this Friday a resolution that represents another step towards the definitive end of the pandemic. «[El jueves] the Emergency Committee met for the fifteenth time and recommended that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice,” said Ghebreyesus, who wanted to make it clear that vigilance will continue. “It has been a decision taken with caution. I will not hesitate to declare the emergency again if the situation changes,” he stressed.

In fact, he insisted that the virus remains a “global threat.” “Right now 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 persistent covid. This virus is here to stay. It’s still killing and it’s still changing. The risk remains that new variants emerge causing further increases in cases and deaths,” she stressed. Even so, the WHO considers that the reduction in mortality and the greater immunity, natural and thanks to vaccines, allows this step to be taken.

In his speech, the director general of the WHO took stock of the three years of covid-19, which he described as “much more than a health crisis.” “It has caused severe economic disruption, disrupted travel and commerce, closed businesses and plunged millions into poverty. It has caused severe social upheaval, with closed borders, restricted movement, closed schools and millions of people experiencing loneliness, isolation, anxiety and depression,” he recalled.

“Covid has changed the world and it has changed us. And that’s how it should be. If we go back to how things were before, we will not have learned the lesson and we will have failed our future generations,” said Ghebreyesus, whose performance during the pandemic has been questioned, above all, for the delay in sounding the alert.

The declaration of a disease as an international health emergency only implies a warning, but without executive measures, since the WHO has no power over the countries. For this reason, yesterday’s announcement is more symbolic than effective. In addition, the restrictions have long since been relaxed to almost nothing. The penultimate of these, the use of the mask indoors and on public transport, was eliminated globally in the last months of last year and in the first months of 2023.

For the WHO, covid-19 will continue to be a pandemic, since this denomination, established on March 11, 2020, is only the way to define the increase in cases of a disease with the capacity to spread throughout the world.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, welcomed the decision of the WHO with a message on Twitter. «My emotional memory to the families who have lost a loved one. Let’s not forget the greatest of lessons: unity and reinforcement of science and our National Health System. Among all of us we have achieved it, “Sánchez wrote. In Spain, covid-19 has left more than 120,964 deaths with a positive diagnostic test, although the real number of deaths is around 150,000.