Covid-19 is no longer considered global health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency. A disease is regarded or designated as a global health emergency if it constitutes a public health risk to other states/nations through international spread that requires coordinated international response. Covid-19 which has killed over 7 million people worldwide (official figure) was declared by WHO as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in 2020.

Between 2009 and 2022 seven PHEIC declarations were made by WHO; these include, H1N1, POLIO, West Africa Ebola, Zika virus, Kivu Ebola, Covid-19, and mpox outbreaks. Most PHEIC are considered temporal with reviews made every three months.

According to WHO, as of 4:16pm CEST, 3 May 2023, about 763,222,932 confirmed cases of Covid-19 was reported with 6,921,614 deaths officially documented. However, there has been a sharp decline in death rates to about 3500 as of 24 April 2023. Although the death rate is likely to be several times over, this official estimates gives hope, though cautiously, that normal life could return.

Also, with the declaration, individual states and nations need to devise approaches of keeping their citizenry safe from Covid-19. Now states have the freedom to manage the disease their own way. Make no mistake, Covid-19 still exist, it will be dangerous for any nation to let down its guard as significant threat still remains.

The roll out of vaccines against Covid-19 was a turning point in the global health management of the disease. It offered protection against serious illness and death. Despite negative perceptions about the vaccines from some quarters, scientific data showed that the vaccines protected against serious symptoms of Covid-19 and even death.

According to WHO data, a total of 13,346,989,954 doses of Covid-19 vaccine has been administered.