The World Health Organization (WHO) announced this Friday the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, three years and four months after it was declared on March 11, 2020.
“It is with great hope that I declare the end of Covid-19 a global health emergency. However, this does not mean that Covid-19 is no longer a threat to global health. Covid-19 has claimed a life every three minutes and these are just the deaths that we are aware of,” said Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general.
“It is therefore with great hope that I declare #COVID-19 passed as a global health emergency.
However, that doesn’t mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat.
Last week, COVID-19 claimed a life every three minutes – and that’s just the deaths we know of –@DrTedros pic.twitter.com/n6zad8qSdx
– World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 5, 2023
According to that official, the pandemic caused the deaths of “at least 20 million people” worldwide, nearly three times more than the official estimate. More than 765 million infections will have been detected.
At a press conference, Tedros Ghebreyesus reinforced the idea that the disease should not be devalued after this announcement, assuring that it continues to pose a health risk.
“Now is the time for countries to move from a state of emergency to managing covid-19 along with other infectious diseases,” the WHO secretary-general said, adding that this “was not a hasty decision”. “This is a decision that has been carefully considered, planned and made over a period of time based on careful analysis of the data. If necessary, I will not hesitate to convene another emergency committee should Covid-19 endanger our world again.”he added.
In Portugal, the first cases of this disease were detected on March 2, 2020, and the first state of emergency came into effect two weeks later. In total, Portugal was responsible for 26,000 deaths, with more than 5.5 million people contracting the virus.
Updated.
Source: DN
