WHO declares COVID-19 global emergency isn't over. What happens next?
WHO declares COVID-19 global emergency isn't over. What happens next?
OTTAWA -
The World Health Organization decided Monday not to end to the COVID-19 global public health emergency it declared three years ago, even though the pandemic has reached what the international body calls an "inflection point."
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, said Monday "there is no doubt that we're in a far better situation now" than a year ago, when the highly transmissible Omicron variant was at its peak.
But Tedros warned that in the last eight weeks, at least 170,000 people have died around the world in connection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. He called for at-risk groups to be fully vaccinated, an increase in testing and early use of antivirals, an expansion of lab networks, and a fight against "misinformation" about the pandemic.
"We remain hopeful that in the coming year, the world will transition to a new phase in which we reduce hospitalizations and deaths to the lowest possible level," he said.
WHY IS COVID-19 STILL CONSIDERED AN EMERGENCY WHEN LIFE IS STARTING TO GET BACK TO NORMAL?
By declaring a global emergency, the WHO essentially sounded the alarm on a serious worldwide health risk that required international co-operation.
It triggered a legally binding response among WHO member countries, including Canada, and allowed the organization to make temporary recommendations to those countries to prevent or deal with the threat.
But in the three years since COVID-19 was designated an emergency, workers have begun to go back to the office, public health restrictions have lifted and masks are no longer mandatory in most places. Life is starting to resemble the pre-pandemic reality.
In Canada, public health officials credit this slow return to normalcy to the high rate of vaccination among Canadians, and the availability of therapeutic drugs to prevent and treat serious cases of infection.
Those life-saving therapies are not available everywhere in the world, Tedros reminded the WHO's COVID-19 emergency committee before they began their meeting Friday.
"The global response remains hobbled because in too many countries, these powerful, life-saving tools are still not getting to the populations that need them most — especially older people and health workers," he told them at the outset of the meeting.
The committee of global experts said in a statement Monday that they're still worried about "insufficient" vaccine uptake in low- and middle-income countries.
Even in countries with such tools at their disposal, public trust in those life-saving medicines has been undermined by disinformation campaigns. Health systems remain overwhelmed because of staff shortages and COVID-19 surveillance efforts have been massively scaled down.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO END THE EMERGENCY?
The committee recommended the WHO come up with some other way to make sure countries stay focused on COVID-19 after the formal emergency designation is called off.
Moving past the emergency will require commitment from the WHO, member counties and international institutions to "developing and implementing sustainable, systematic, long-term prevention, surveillance, and control action plans," the committee said in a statement Monday.
That's because even when that designation is lifted, it won't mean the pandemic is over or that the threat has ended.
They suggest the international body issue recommendations to guide the long-term response to COVID-19 as it evolves.
The experts also want to know if calling off the emergency in the "coming months" will have implications for developing and authorizing vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments.
The committee will meet again in three months to reconsider ending the emergency designation.
WHAT WILL CANADA DO DIFFERENTLY ONCe THE WHO DECLARES THE EMERGENCY OVER?
Nothing much. At a press conference on Jan. 20, Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said no matter what the WHO decided, Canada would continue to track cases, serious illnesses and deaths, as well as roll out vaccination campaigns.
Cases, hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus spiked noticeably over Christmas and in early January, Tam said, but all now appear to be trending down.
"We mustn't, I think, let go of the gains that we've had in the last several years," she said.
"I think whatever the decision is made by the director-general of WHO, I think we just need to keep going with what we're doing now."
WHOSE DECISION WAS IT TO NOT END THE EMERGENCY?
The final call was ultimately up to Tedros, but he was informed by the advice of the emergency committee.
The group was first struck in 2020 when the threat of COVID-19 first came to light, and have met every three months since to debate whether or not the emergency was still justified and to review temporary recommendations to member countries.
The committee voted Friday on whether or not to maintain the formal emergency designation, and Tedros announced his decision Monday.
WHEN WILL THE PANDEMIC FINALLY BE OVER?
It's difficult to say because COVID-19 is still spreading around the world, and it's going to be around for a long time, the WHO's committee of experts said in their statement Monday.
"There is little doubt that this virus will remain a permanently established pathogen in humans and animals for the foreseeable future," the committee's statement said.
"While eliminating this virus from human and animal reservoirs is highly unlikely, mitigation of its devastating impact on morbidity and mortality is achievable and should continue to be a prioritized goal."
The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic a month and a half after designating it a global emergency, and at the time Tedros took pains to explain the two classifications are not one and the same.
"Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do," Tedros said on March 11, 2020.
Last fall he declared the end of the pandemic was "in sight," but it is difficult to say when it will fully come into view.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2023.
Sign up to receive the most important updates in your inbox two times a week
This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, orange, emerging from the surface of cells, green, cultured in the lab. (NIAID-RML via AP)
A grand jury in Manhattan has voted to indict Donald Trump -- the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Ottawa Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, the second such incident involving one of his top aides in recent months.
This Sunday, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will announce the four astronauts that will be blasting off to fly around the moon for the Artemis II mission, one of whom will be a Canadian astronaut.
When two skiers collided on a beginner run at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016, no one could foresee that seven years later, the crash would become the subject of a closely watched celebrity trial.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
A candidate for the United Conservative Party in southern Alberta has resigned after she posted a video claiming children are being exposed to pornography in schools.
A scientist at CAMH says video games have similar addictive features to gambling which cause social isolation of the individual and dependency on the activity.
Two-and-a-half years after it was established, Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission has recommended sweeping changes to everything from gun control to mental health services, although there’s no guarantee any will ever be implemented.
This Sunday, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will announce the four astronauts that will be blasting off to fly around the moon for the Artemis II mission, one of whom will be a Canadian astronaut.
A scientist at CAMH says video games have similar addictive features to gambling which cause social isolation of the individual and dependency on the activity.
A judge has acquitted a now-retired priest of forcing himself on a residential school student more than 50 years ago, saying she believes an assault happened but could not determine beyond a reasonable doubt who did it.
A grand jury in Manhattan has voted to indict Donald Trump -- the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
A new government study highlights just how violent America's recent past has been by showing a surge in gunfire injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the number of people fatally shooting each other -- and themselves -- also increased.
Nashville authorities released 911 calls Thursday that capture the terror inside an elementary school during the attack this week that left three children and three adults dead.
Former President Jair Bolsonaro arrived back in Brazil on Thursday after a three-month stay in Florida, seeking a new role on the political scene as authorities in the capital braced for the far-right populist's return.
A team of journalists from The Associated Press spent two days travelling by train with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he visited the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia. Here are some takeaways from an interview with Zelenskyy.
King Charles III became the first monarch to address Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday as part of a high-profile visit by the U.K. head of state aimed at bolstering ties between the two European powers.
Ottawa Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, the second such incident involving one of his top aides in recent months.
Gun policy comments made by then-RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki in a contentious call to Nova Scotia RCMP officers after the mass shooting in 2020 did not amount to political interference, the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) final report concludes.
When the doors close at night at the administration office at Yukon's Carcross Tagish First Nation, a van hits the road and drives through the communities to offer naloxone to reverse overdoses, drug testing kits, food and even a friendly face to help those struggling because of the opioid crisis.
New research suggests the classic image of a Tyrannosaurus rex with massive, sharp teeth might be wrong. A study in the journal Science suggests the teeth on a T. rex was likely covered by scaly lips and didn't stick out when its mouth was closed.
This Sunday, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will announce the four astronauts that will be blasting off to fly around the moon for the Artemis II mission, one of whom will be a Canadian astronaut.
When two skiers collided on a beginner run at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016, no one could foresee that seven years later, the crash would become the subject of a closely watched celebrity trial.
Camila Cabello credits the strong women in her life for her success as an artist and a person. So it was only natural that she was there to celebrate her grandmother's milestone -- the publication of a novel.
Actress Melissa Joan Hart says she was near Nashville's Covenant School soon after Monday's deadly shooting of six people, including three children, and helped some students get away from the scene.
Just a week after Airbnb tightened regulations for Quebec listings following a deadly fire, hosts may already be bending the rules. Airbnb now requires its hosts to provide a six-digit policy number with their listing, obtained when a tourist lodging is registered with the provincial government. But a scroll through the Airbnb website suggests users are falsifying their permit numbers to sneak past the authentication process.
The European Union must be prepared to develop measures to protect trade and investment that China might exploit for its own security and military purposes, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Thursday.
For nearly a year, the average used vehicle in the United States had been edging toward affordable again for millions of people. Now, with the supply of used vehicles failing to keep up with robust demand, prices are creeping up again, with signs pointing to further increases ahead.
A scientist at CAMH says video games have similar addictive features to gambling which cause social isolation of the individual and dependency on the activity.
On March 30, 1923, exactly 100 years ago, the world's first continuous passenger cruise ship arrived back in New York City after completing a 130-day voyage.
Some of the biggest names in mens' tennis are participating in the Pickleball Slam -- the latest in a series of attempts to draw eyeballs to a sport taking over courts in neighbourhoods all over while still finding its footing on television.
Former Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius has applied for parole and is expected to attend a hearing on Friday that will decide if he can be released from prison 10 years after killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by shooting her multiple times through a toilet door in his home.
For nearly a year, the average used vehicle in the United States had been edging toward affordable again for millions of people. Now, with the supply of used vehicles failing to keep up with robust demand, prices are creeping up again, with signs pointing to further increases ahead.
Closing out a half century of purely gasoline-powered V12 cars going back to the brand's earliest models, Luxury Italian sports car designer Lamborghini has unveiled its first supercar with a charging port.
After claiming his 100th podium in Saudi Arabia in confusing and controversial circumstances, Fernando Alonso is looking for a better result at Sunday's Australian Grand Prix than his two third-place finishes so far this Formula One season.
