Covid still global health emergency, warns World Health Organisation

Geneva, January 31

The Covid pandemic continues to be a “global health emergency” and the deadly virus will remain a “permanently established pathogen” in humans and animals for the foreseeable future, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday that as the world enters the fourth year of the pandemic, there is no doubt that “we are in a far better situation now” than a year ago when the Omicron wave was at its peak. He said Covid continues to be a health emergency.

“Three years ago today, I declared a public health emergency of international concern over the global spread of Covid, the highest level of alarm under the International Health Regulations, and for the moment, the only level of alarm,” Ghebreyesus said.

The Committee acknowledged that the Covid pandemic may be approaching an “inflexion point”. It noted that while eliminating the virus from human and animal reservoirs is highly unlikely.