Jan 30 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) mentioned on Monday that COVID-19 continues to represent a public well being emergency of worldwide concern, its highest type of alert.

The pandemic was doubtless in a “transition point” that continues to wish cautious administration to “mitigate the potential negative consequences”, the company added in an announcement.

It is three years because the WHO first declared that COVID represented a world well being emergency. More than 6.8 million folks have died throughout the outbreak, which has touched each nation on Earth, ravaging communities and economies.

However, the appearance of vaccines and coverings has modified the pandemic state of affairs significantly since 2020, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has mentioned he hopes to see an finish to the emergency this yr, notably if entry to the counter-measures may be improved globally.

Advisers to the WHO skilled committee on the pandemic’s standing informed Reuters in December that it was doubtless not the second to finish the emergency given the uncertainty over the wave of infections in China after it lifted its strict zero-COVID measures on the finish of 2022.

Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru and Jennifer Rigby in London; Editing by Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie

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