WHO keeps Covid pandemic emergency in place as deaths start to rise globally

The World Health Organization (WHO) decided on Monday against declaring an end to the Covid19 pandemic emergency, as deaths have started rising again since China dismantled its strict “zero-Covid” policy in December.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus determined that the ongoing pandemic “continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern”, in line with the recommendations of a panel of health experts, the organisation said in a statement.

The panel members agreed that “Covid-19 remains a dangerous infectious disease with the capacity to cause substantial damage to health and health systems”, the WHO said.

Mr Tedros acknowledged the experts’ view that “the Covid-19 pandemic is probably at a transition point”, it said.

Among the concerns expressed by the experts are a still high number of deaths, an insufficient level of vaccination in low- and middleincome countries and in the highest-risk groups worldwide, and the uncertainty associated with emerging variants.

“The death curve should continually be going down, and it’s not,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News. “In fact, right now, it’s rising” even without taking into account data coming from China.

“That’s what concerns us right now,” she added.

The panel, gathering every three months to advise the WHO head, held on Friday its 14th meeting since the emergency was declared three years ago. The final decision on lifting the current state of emergency lies with the WHO head, based on the panel’s advice. Mr Tedros told the panel that weekly reported deaths have begun increasing globally again since the start of December with almost 40,000 deaths last week.