WHO Declares End To Covid-19 Public Health Emergency After Three Years Of Global Struggle
JR Choudhary 
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the Covid-19 pandemic is no longer a public health emergency, after three years of gruelling struggle. The disease was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in January 2020, and was later characterized as a pandemic. Since then, Covid-19 has infected over 763 million people and caused over 6.9 million deaths worldwide.
However, due to the decreasing trend in Covid-19 deaths, hospitalizations, and ICU admissions, as well as high levels of population immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recommended ending the health emergency at the 15th meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee on Thursday. Although the Committee acknowledged the uncertainties posed by the potential evolution of SARS-CoV-2, they advised that it's time to transition to the long-term management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"For more than a year, the pandemic has been on a downward trend," said Ghebreyesus at a news conference on Friday. "This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19."
