World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom announced on Wednesday that he has decided to maintain the Covid-19 pandemic as an international public health emergency, on the recommendation of the emergency committee.
adhanom “Agrees with the committee’s advice regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and notes that the event continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC), the organization said in a statement.
The PHEIC is the highest alert level and applies to “an extraordinary, serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected event” affecting public health beyond the national border of an affected state and potentially requiring international action.
According to the WHO, experts from several countries advising the organization agreed that covid-19 remains a “public health event that negatively and strongly affects the health of the world’s population”.
“There is still a risk that new variants will exacerbate ongoing health effects, especially as winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, and there is still a need for a coordinated international response to address inequalities in access to life-saving resources.” based organization said.
The WHO points out that while weekly deaths are near the lowest since the start of the pandemic, that number “remains high compared to other respiratory viruses”.
In addition, in its recommendation, the committee considered doubts about the genetic and antigenic features of future SARS-CoV-2 variants, which are largely exacerbated by “current gaps” in global surveillance, which make identification and evaluation difficult for these changes.
The continued evolution of the virus that causes Covid-19 could “present challenges to current vaccines and therapies,” the WHO warns, stressing that “unequal access” to vaccination and treatments still exist between countries.
“Overall, the committee was of the opinion that the situation remains dynamic and requires frequent reassessments, and that the termination of the PHEIC, if deemed feasible, should be carried out as safely as possible”says the statement.
Following the decision to keep Covid-19 as PHEIC, the WHO Director-General has made a series of temporary recommendations to countries, including strengthening SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, enhancing capacity to deal with emerging detect and evaluate variants and significant changes in the epidemiology of covid-19.
Other recommendations include meeting national vaccination targets, with full protection of groups at risk, maintaining a strong national response to the pandemic, updating preparedness and response plans, and adapting individual protection measures to changing circumstances.
The Covid-19 Emergency Committee held its first meeting on January 22-23, 2020, and days later the WHO Director General declared that the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak constituted an international public health emergency.
This committee, meeting by the Director-General of WHO, is responsible for recommending whether an outbreak constitutes a public health emergency, proposing temporary measures to prevent and reduce the spread of a disease, and manage the global public health response, if necessary.
Source: DN
