The World Health Organization (WHO) leader announced Friday the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer classified as a worldwide health crisis.. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health OrganizationTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (source: CBC) .WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision to lift the global public health emergency was based on a recommendation from the WHO’s Emergency committee..“Yesterday, the Emergency committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice,” said Ghebreyesus..“It is, therefore, with great hope I declare #COVID19 over as a global health emergency. However, that does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat. Last week, COVID-19 claimed a life every three minutes — and that’s just the deaths we know about.”.“The global public health emergency has ended,” said Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program..“[But] still a public health threat out there. We fully expect this virus will continue to transmit. The battle is not over.”.In 2019, COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China and spread globally, resulting in more than three years of lockdowns and other public health restrictions..On Jan. 30, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a “public health emergency of international concern” and later, on March 11, 2020, officially classified it as a pandemic..Most countries, including Canada, removed the majority or all of their public health measures that were put in place due to COVID-19.
