(GoRealNewsNow.com) – BREAKING NEWS NOW: The World Health Organization (WHO) just announced the Covid-19 pandemic is no longer a global public health emergency.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva that the downward trend of the pandemic has allowed most countries to return to life as it was before Covid-19.
Over the past year, population immunity has increased due to vaccination and infection, mortality rates have decreased, and the strain on health systems has eased.
Since the WHO first declared the emergency in January 2020, nearly 7 million people have died from the virus worldwide, according to official data. Tedros believes the actual death toll is at least 20 million.
The announcement comes as the U.S. plans to end its national public health emergency soon.
However, Tedros warned that new variants could still emerge and cause a surge in cases. He urged national governments not to dismantle the systems they have built to combat the virus, stating, “This virus is here to stay. It’s still killing and it’s still changing.”
The WHO chief believes it is time for countries to shift from an emergency response to managing Covid like other infectious diseases.
The virus was first observed in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, when several patients experienced pneumonia symptoms from an unknown cause. Covid rapidly spread across the globe in early 2020, leading to a massive shutdown of international travel and border closures.
The virus particularly affected the elderly and other vulnerable populations, putting immense pressure on hospitals that lacked adequate bed capacity or supplies. Governments closed public spaces in an attempt to halt the virus’s spread, leading to a significant economic downturn and social disruption.
Tedros emphasized that Covid-19 has been more than just a health crisis, causing economic and social upheaval. Trillions of dollars were erased from global GDP, travel and trade were disrupted, businesses collapsed, and millions were plunged into poverty. Socially, borders closed, movement was restricted, schools shut down, and millions experienced loneliness, isolation, anxiety, and depression.
China has faced criticism for not alerting the world earlier about the virus, a claim they deny. Critics have also accused the WHO of relying too much on information from Beijing during the early stages of the pandemic. Over three years later, the virus’s origins remain a contentious topic. There is an ongoing debate among scientists, government officials, and the public about whether Covid originated from an infected animal or a lab in China.
The U.S. intelligence community is divided on the issue. The U.S. government, allied nations, and the WHO have criticized China for not providing transparent access to data that could help determine how the pandemic began.
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