WHO ends COVID emergency but warns threat is not over
Enlarge / World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks at a press conference on the World Health Organization's 75th anniversary in Geneva, on April 6, 2023. (credit: Getty | FABRICE COFFRINI)
The World Health Organization on Friday declared an end to the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic while emphasizing that the health threat is not over.
"Yesterday, the Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern [PHEIC]," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press briefing Friday. "I have accepted that advice."
The WHO declared the PHEIC more than three years ago on January 30, 2020. Since then, the UN agency estimates that at least 20 million people have died from COVID-19, while the virus SARS-CoV-2 caused profound disruptions and devastation worldwide, leaving deep scars.