WHO declares end to COVID-19 health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a global public health emergency.

“It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Friday. He said the end of the emergency did not mean COVID was no longer a global health threat.

WHO said in taking the decision, it noted the decreasing trend in COVID-19 deaths, the decline in COVID-19 related hospitalizations and intensive care admissions, and the high levels of population immunity to the virus.

– Why it matters

The deadly virus has claimed at least 7 million lives worldwide since WHO first referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency on January 30, 2020.

Official figures put Nigeria’s deaths at 3,155 and number of cases at 266,675.

The declaration by WHO marks the end of years of lockdowns and emergency health protocols.

Earlier this week, the United States announced that COVID-19 vaccine requirements for international air travellers to the U.S., government employees, healthcare workers, and educators would end on May 11. COVID-19’s status as a public health emergency in the U.S. is also set to expire on the same day.

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Some 5 billion people or 70% of global population have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Still, WHO warned that cases are still on the rise in some parts of the world, particularly in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and thousands of people are still dying from the virus every week.

The origins and initial transmission of COVID-19 are still contested. In 2021, WHO released a report suggesting that the virus likely passed from animals to humans, refuting the theory that the virus may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.

Last year, it acknowledged that critical data was still missing to completely rule out the lab theory.

In early March, a report from the U.S. Energy Department assessed that the virus most likely came from a “lab leak” in Wuhan, leading Beijing to accuse Washington of attempting to “smear” China. China has yet to reveal essential data that could help determine the origins of the virus.