WHO expects long-term efforts against COVID-19

Geneva: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic still constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), and longterm response efforts are needed given an anticipated lengthy duration of the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday.

The committee unanimously agreed that the outbreak still constitutes a PHEIC, and noted the importance of “sustained community, national, regional, and global response efforts,” said the statement.

Tedros had declared a PHEIC, WHO’s highest level of alarm under IHR, on Jan. 30 at a time when there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside China. He issued the committee’s advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR, according to the statement.