When will Covid-19 stop being a global health emergency? WHO chief makes a major revelation

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• Dec 15, 2022 | Dhupali Das

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated at a press conference in Geneva that the WHO Covid-19 Emergency Committee will ...

Digital Desk: The World Health Organization's (WHO) chief has stated that he believes Covid-19 will no longer be a global health emergency by next year.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated at a press conference in Geneva that the WHO Covid-19 Emergency Committee will discuss the criteria for declaring an end to the Covid-19 emergency next month, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We're confident that by the end of next year, Covid-19 will no longer be a worldwide health emergency," he said.

However, he added that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is to blame for the Covid-19 pandemic, will not go away.

"It's here to stay, and all countries will have to learn to handle it alongside other respiratory infections like influenza and RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus)," he said.

The WHO chief stated that one of the most important lessons learned from the pandemic is the necessity for all nations to strengthen their public health systems in order to be ready for, prevent, identify, and quickly respond to outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.

Another important lesson is the need for much stronger collaboration in place of the competition and misunderstanding that marked the global response to Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, warned that waves of infection and re-infection would continue around the world, with countries reporting 8,000 to 10,000 additional deaths each week.

According to Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, there are risks because it is still unknown how the SARS-CoV-2 virus will change in the future.

Before the WHO chief declares the Covid-19 emergency over, a balance needs to be struck between the virus, including its effect and unpredictability, and "whether or not we have handled with the vulnerabilities and resilience issues in our health systems," Ryan said.