The COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a global health emergency, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which made this announcement on Friday. The outbreak still poses a serious threat, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised.

In his statement, Ghebreyesus noted that the emergency committee had met for the fifteenth time and urged him to declare the global public health emergency to be over.

He acknowledged the advice and declared the situation to be resolved. He added that this announcement does not imply that the epidemic is no longer a threat to world health.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have experienced large waves of infections, which has led to a marked decline in Covid-related death. The main cause of this reduction is improved immunity brought on either vaccination or previous illness.

According to the WHO, the number of fatalities linked to COVID has fallen by 95% since the start of this year.

Covid is anticipated to replace the flu as the new standard of care, with seasonal resurgences. ‘Pandemic tiredness’ was a danger mentioned by Ghebreyesus, who also asserted that Covid-19 would not go away. Every nation must learn how to manage the virus together with other contagious diseases.

“While progress has been made in stopping the spread of COVID-19, we must remain vigilant because the virus is still spreading throughout the world,” he continued. The WHO will keep a close eye on the situation and provide governments with management guidance for the epidemic.

The WHO has received verified reports of over 765 million Covid infections and nearly 7 million fatalities since the pandemic started. Ghebreyesus, on the other hand, has calculated that Covid-19 has caused at least 20 million deaths, which is roughly three times the official amount.