(Reuters) – The World Health Organization ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 on Friday more than three years after its original declaration, and said countries should now manage the virus that killed more than 6.9 million people along with other infectious diseases.
The global health agency’s Emergency Committee met on Thursday and recommended the UN organization declare an end to the coronavirus crisis as a “public health emergency of international concern” – its highest level of alert – which has been in place since Jan. 30, 2020.
“It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that the end of the emergency did not mean COVID was over as a global health threat.
During a lengthy conference call to brief the press on the decision, some WHO members became emotional as they urged countries to reflect on lessons learned during the pandemic.
“We can’t forget those fire pyres. We can’t forget the graves that were dug. None of us up here will forget them,” said WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19 Maria Van Kerkhove.
The COVID death rate has slowed from a peak of more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021 to just over 3,500 in the week to April 24, 2023, according to WHO data, reflecting widespread vaccination, availability of better treatments and a level of population immunity from prior infections.
Ending the emergency could mean that international collaboration or funding efforts are also brought to an end or shift in focus, although many have already adapted as the pandemic receded in different regions.
“The battle is not over. We still have weaknesses and those weaknesses that we still have in our system will be exposed by this virus or another virus. And it needs to be fixed,” said the WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan.
The WHO does not declare the beginning or end of pandemics, although it did start using the term for COVID in March 2020.
“In most cases, pandemics truly end when the next pandemic begins,” Ryan said.
Last year, U.S. President Joe Biden said the pandemic was over. Like a number of other countries, the world’s biggest economy has begun dismantling its domestic state of emergency for COVID, which officially ends May 11, meaning it will stop paying for vaccines and testing for many people and shift responsibility to the commercial market.
The European Union also said in April last year that the emergency phase of the pandemic was over, and other regions have taken similar steps.
‘SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM’
The WHO’s declaration comes just four months after China ended its prolonged severe COVID restrictions and was ravaged by a big surge in infections.
The decision also suggests that WHO advisers believe a new more dangerous coronavirus variant is unlikely to emerge in the coming months, although the virus remains unpredictable.
“I will not hesitate to convene another emergency committee should COVID-19 once again put our world in peril”, WHO chief Tedros said.
In many parts of the world, testing has dwindled dramatically, and people have largely stopped wearing masks. In some countries, mask-wearing mandates have resumed during COVID outbreaks. The WHO published a plan this week advising countries on how to live with COVID long-term.
COVID will continue to challenge health systems worldwide long term, including long COVID, infectious disease experts say. “No one should take (this) to mean COVID-19 is no longer a problem,” said Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh.
“It is still a significant public health problem and looks likely to remain one for the foreseeable future.”
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“Let there be light and it was light” you are telling the WHO is so powerful to say let there be no pandemic and it ends just by them saying so.
@Smh
The WHO are speaking to the severity of Covid. It did not say that Covid no longer exists, it is still there but not as potent as it formerly was. Flu is still there worldwide but not regarded as a pandemic due to it’s low potency at the moment. Conspiracy theorists will always have their day until either they or a loved one falls victim to a virus like Covid. Ask a victim who has gasped painfully for breath before passing and they will tell you.
I am so happy that I don’t have to wear that mask anymore!!
Thank you lord for getting me through this crisis safe and sound.
Condolence to all the families that lost love ones during this dreadful period..
Continue to eat healthy, get regular exercise and people go to the beach..free therapy for flu like symptoms🙏🏽
How very thoughtful of them to end their contrived crisis.
You just cannot make this madness up. Waiting on the Dr Molwyn Fauci Joseph and the CMO to declare to Antigua that the Pandemic has ended.
Lol
DO NOT GET COMPLACENT MY FELLOW ANTIGUAN CITIZENS, THERE’S PLANS AFOOT – BY THE USUAL SUSPECTS – FOR ANOTHER MORE DEADLIER VIRUS IN THE PIPELINE 🧬🩸💉📈 IN 2025 … OR EVEN EARLIER!
The pandemic treaty must be signed — I’m guessing that is why they’re ending the convid psy-op.
Up next: “Catastrophic Contagion” — Marburg or some other hemorrhagic fever virus will be unleashed. Get ready! All RNA viruses will respond to any successful measures used for convid. Take the opportunity to get your vitamin D level up — aim for 60 ng/ml or higher, but not above 100. Sunlight is best.
My gut tells me something will pop up just in time for the 2024 election. Lockdowns will come back — it’s one of the measures in the treaty; and because, Kill Gates loves it so much.
Eyes Open — No Fear!
That’s absolutely right @ Sugarapple, It. looks like the lull before the CONVID PLANDEMIC (PART 2) storm!
The WHO treaty with its 192 worldwide members (Antigua & Barbuda included) is due to signed any day soon.
Here’s hoping and praying that somehow this whole evil and wickedness is exposed and destroyed in its tracks …
Big Pharma got a taste of billions at the expense of the world and the blanket immunity they enjoyed at the hands of the governments who were foolish enough to trust them. They are not about to give up on another opportunity to scare hell out of people and have some untested, dangerous killer shot just waiting. I hope we have learned from the covid19 scam. It was a man-made virus orchestrated do just what it did. In my mind, WHO, PAHO and all the relevant medical organization all over the world,(NIH, CDC, FDA etc) have lost the trust of the majority.
I hope the days to come will see something akin to the Nuremberg trials as these traitors are brought to justice.
AH WAH DE RASS YAH TARL.
THE PROBLEM WASN’T COVID AT ALL, INSTEAD THE PROBLEM WAS ALL THE RIDICILOUS PROTOCOLS PUT IN PLACE BY WHO AND THE GOVERNMENTS
AH WAH DE RASS YAH TARL
@oversee – I encourage you to sit down and do some real research. I don’t mean watch CNN for 5 minutes or click on the first result on Google. I am amazed to hear that 3 years in people are still in the dark about this. I have lost a loved one to COVID-19. They would not have died if the people we trusted to inform us had not done their best to discredit treatments that actually work, both conventional and natural. Only an idiot would say COVID-19 doesn’t exist, I had it and got over it. The problem is they were more interested in controlling people, being politically correct and collecting from Bill Gates than controlling the virus.
– Tell me, how is a “vaccine” that doesn’t prevent infection going to “stop the spread” of the virus? Fauci himself said a respiratory virus doesn’t care what you put in your blood because it’s not a blood disease. It infects the respiratory mucous membranes.
– Do you know that Pfizer’s own documents say their shot has 1200 observed side-effects. One of them is spontaneous abortion, another is COVID-19…yes
– Do you know that none of the approved drugs for COVID-19 cost less than $700us per course?
– Explain to me why Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin, two of the safest, most popular and most effective antiviral drugs on the planet were not recommended for the SARS 2 (COVID-19) when they work for every other virus, including SARS 1?
No, I’m not a doctor, but I had to become my own doctor because the real ones were either sleeping on the job or terrified to say anything, so now, like the YouTube creators that charge you $50 to tell you the 7 secrets to success, big pharma is laughing all the way to the bank. I hope we have learned our lesson.
So sorry to hear of your loss @ Really. I’m hoping that @ Oversea has the guts to respond to you.
The red flag for me was when the other medical experts, virologists, doctors, scientists and whistle-blowers were silenced and were not given an equal platform so that the public at large could make informed choices whether to be vaccinated or not.
And we must never forget that one of the pharmaceuticals wanted to hide the facts from the public for 75 years until a judge intervened.
Absolutely criminal!
All the best to you …
@Really?
Let me begin by saying I am glad you overcame Covid; that’s good news. I wish to offer my condolences at your loss of a loved one to the disease. Now, tell me what is the real research you encourage me to engage in. I do watch CNN and many other news channels as I suppose you do too so what is your point? You say there were treatments for the disease which were discredited that would have prevented loss of life and, Quote “The problem is they were more interested in controlling people, being politically correct and collecting from Bill Gates than controlling the virus” Unquote. I might be missing something here so please say what you mean. Who wanted to control who and collect what from Bill Gates? I’ll take a guess: ‘they’ wanted to control Donald Trump at first an arch discrediter of the Covid vaccine who told Ameicans to inject themselves with some drug I do not remember, until he himself succumbed to Covid and was thereafter hospitalised for treatment. It was claimed he was in a pretty bad way. Did Dr Fauci recommend taking the vaccine or not? Why did President Biden publicly take the jab and who wanted to control him? As to the cost of the vaccine I would not expect it to come cheaply considering the urgency to get Covid under control. Surely you must know that all drugs/medicines have a side effect. Read carefully the instruction notes and you would be surprised at the possible side effects that some everyday medicines can have. I am not a doctor either but I try to pick sense from nonsense and avoid conspiracy theories. By the way you did not say what the natural and conventional medicines are to combat Covid and might have helped you. Some info that might interest you: my eldest offspring at first called the vaccine mumbo jumbo and would would not have it until………you guessed right. Thankfully he got over it. As they say, Each To His Own.
I’m glad that you made some sort of reply @ Oversee, however, whenever anyone asks the pro-vaccine advocates why where was the other medical, scientific, virologists and other experts in similar fields, voices were strangely silenced from any balanced debates?
Surely, even you must be curious about that?
And if not, why not? Aren’t you even concerned about this mystifying anomaly in openness and accountability?
There’s nothing wrong in being a critical thinker (especially nowadays), you’d do well to remember that @ Oversee!
[exclude *where* from first paragraph] opps!
@Brixtonian.
You ask why were the other medical, scientific virologists and other experts strangely silenced from any balanced debates? You probably did not listen often enough to hear their arguments shot down at every point. The point is this: there is a lot of money to be made from conspiracy theories, lots and lots of it. The latest which you might have heard of concerns someone called Alex Jones in the USA who went viral that the school children in Sandy Hook, Connecticut a few years ago were not killed at all and was a hoax. This gentleman made a pile of money peddalling his ridiculous drivel until some of the bereaved parents took him to court and won. He now has to pay the parents a huge sum and is now pleading bankruptcy. That’s by the way. And what’s a critical thinker? I’m all for a reasoned debate. We do not have to agree with each other so we can agree to disagree, that’s how it should be. Try harder.
Interesting deflectionary tactic to write about the terrible Sandy Hook atrocities when I am only trying to find out why other Covid-19 experts where silenced during lockdowns and the pandemic?
Look, If you want to keep getting your information from the likes of CNN, who by the way are sponsored by Pfizer – and they’ll NEVER go against one of their main funding contributors?!
WHY WOULD THEY? REMEMBER, WHO PAYS THE PIPER ALWAYS CALLS THE TUNE …
Here, I’ll also help you with a few balanced contributors:
Trial Site News; Dr John Campell; Roman Balmalkov’s Facts Matters; Kim Iversen; Medicine with Dr Moran; Redacted; Russell Brand; Richard Vobes; The Jimmy Dore; and if you need any more, just let me know.
BTW, do you know what all the above have in common?
Yes, that’s right @ Oversee, none of them is funded or financially backed by any pharmaceutical companies or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Last bit of “life-saving” advice for you. If you are going to continue tacking anymore of the so-called vaccines … DON’T TAKE THE ADVICE FROM CNN JOURNALISTS THAT ARE FINANCIALLY BACKED BY PFIZER OR BILL GATES – STAY SAFE!
Brixtonian again putting the other side to the adverse reactive mRNA vaccines.
The propaganda continues unabated fellow citizens of Antigua & Barbuda!
Remember, the politicians, pharmaceuticals, PAHO, WHO, WEF and Bill Gates cannot admit they got it all wrong … just imagine the compensation to those who died and the vaccine injured.
Billions, or should I say Trillions!!!
@Brixtonian.
Critical thinker, eh? So I was being that when I asked some questions of Really?’Great. Tread carefully!
You’ll have lost faith in God and cleaved to science, and now that the “science junkies” have failed you’ll, am hearing a bag of complaints. Give me a break..the fear mongering is on both sides, the doubters and science junkies, for it is the same science garbage and words the doubters use to debate the very same science they doubt. Pick you’ll poison, cause God is not the author of confusion.
@oversee – yeah like the kid in Florida who died of covid, never mind the fact that he crashed his motorcycle at over 100 mph with no helmet…he was listed as a covid fatality. Wake up and smell the coffee, “covid” was an experiment based on “event 201” brought to you by Bill Gates & Co.
The “treatment” protocols killed more than the disease did.
@Caustic Bastard.
Thank you for proving my point. This kid, not wearing a helmet, crashed his motorcycle at 100 miles per hour and his death was listed as a Covid fatality. There you go!
@oversee – a friend of mine went to the hospital mildly short of breath, long story short, they drugged him unconscious, he declined, they gave him remdisivir, his kidneys shut down and he died.
Covid death…the “hospital” collected the $30K for his “treatment”. Antiguans stood against the clot shot and fought, americans whimpered and did as instructed.
I’m so very proud and encouraged by you folks!
@Caustic Bastard
Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend; kindly accept my condolences. Am I right in assuming death was falsely attributed to Covid so that the hospital could collect $30K when in it was in fact due to the medication that was administered?
@Brixtonian.
You are now accusing me of using a deflectioary tactic when I gave an example of a conspiracy theory in the case of Sandy Hook. I do not need to use such tactics, it was an example of a conspiracy theory, nothing else. You seem to have a hang-up with CNN for some reason. I do not for there is no reason for me to do so. I am not a dedicated watcher of CNN or any other news channel; I spread my net far and wide and do the best I can to determine what might be plausible or not. I hope you do the same. For your info: I have taken all, repeat all the vaccine doses available so far on the advice of my doctor, not from journalists or any other source but from my doctor. It is my choice, others will do differently, that is their choice, no problem for me. I was not dragged screaming and shouting by muscle-bound heavies to the clinic, I went of my own free will under my own steam. Who are these people the anti vaccineers claim want to control others, who is the master puppeteer and what is their motive? Try as hard as I can, the answer escapes me. Your help is needed. I just wonder if the vaccine was given in the form of a pill/tablet that there would be such an uproar from some quarters. You see, humans are apprehensive when a needle is inserted into their arm, it’s invasive so they become suspicious or hostile to the intrusion. On the other hand those nice little pills, they’re different, we are used to their round friendly shapes that give us so much comfort. Now read the instruction notes inside the container and there will be something important about possible side effects. What!! Warning ‘ Do not take if you watch CNN TV, if you are fearful of being controlled by Martians etc., etc., It’s all in the mind, in the psyche. Just a thought.
You pro-vaxxers love to call anyone who has done their due diligence into these so-called vaccines “anti-vaxxers”, yet the majority of us see ourselves as critical thinkers.
People like you @ Oversee, do not want to admit you were lied to by the Main Stream Media (MSM), politicians, pharmaceutical companies and paid-up medical practitioners.
The pay outs to the bereaved and injured would run into trillions, and not forgetting the class action suits and criminal prosecutions.
Also, I’ve yet to meet anyone who has regretted NOT taking the vaccines, but I’ve met many that wished they had never taken them in the first instance. Go figure!
You still haven’t answered why you think that Pfizer wanted to hide their data for 75 years? Why not?
Also, you’ve shied away – again – from talking about the financial compromise from the MSM by accepting sponsorship to promote these trial vaccines. Again, why not?
And furthermore, haven’t you noticed that many medical experts, politicians and even celebrities who were promoting these dangerous mRNA vaccines, are no longer doing so … or have you buried your head in the sand about this as well?
Or worse, following only MSM news!
Seems so to me!
Open your mind @ Oversee and stay safe …
@Brixtonian
We pro vaxxers refer to those who are averse to the vaccine as anti vaxxers in the same way anti vaxxers refer to us as pro vaxxers, right? Nothing wrong with that. When I decided the vaccine would be beneficial to my heath re Covid I listened to and awaited the conclusions arrived at by the FDA (USA) and the GMC (UK), not by mainstream media or any news outlet on the planet. Why? Because those agencies are the very top bodies that must first authorize the use of any new drug or medicine that comes onto the market for use by the public. They are the ones I listen to and whose advice I take. Politicians can have their say as do pharmaceutical companies or whoever you may choose to name but be sure of this: if the FDA or GMC give the makers of the vaccine the thumbs down then the vaccine would not see the light of day on the market. Full stop. Who wants to lie can do so but the aforementioned bodies are the sole authorities who can give the go-ahead or put the brakes on if their standards are not met. I do hope you understand why it doesn’t bother me one bit who hides their data for centuries or whatever length of time, FDA and GMC are the ones I pay attention to. Understand that. Talk of financial companies benefiting and all that do not interest me one iota. So you have not met one person who has not regretted taking the vaccine but have met many who have. My experience is just the opposite. Not met them personally but seen on hospital TV patients gasping for breath and saying they wish they had. Also bereaved relatives and spouses wishing too late their loved ones had taken the jab. The saying goes ” You pays (sic) your money and you make your choice”. Choice is the key and guess what, it’s free. Now you Go Figure.
FDA and your beloved Main Stream Media (MSM) is funded by Pfizer; I’m surprised that you didn’t know about this this direct conflict of interest. Wow!
But, then again, reading your posts, you obviously don’t care one iota …
Oh, BTW, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are also major contributors not only to the global MSM, but also to pharmaceutical companies, and health organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO, with around 192 member countries, whose contributions in the past, use to keep their medical research totally independent, until recent times), and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).
Furthermore, as I mention this, the WHO wants to remove the SOVEREIGNTY of their 192 members, so that if there are anymore pandemics, lockdowns, and travel restrictions, they can go ahead and dictate vaccine mandates to those signed-up members, whether they/we like it or not.
Very scary indeed!
I believe the WHO want the votes to take place from member states in the not too distant futur.
IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH THIS GLOBAL LOCKSTEP DEVELOPMENT THAT, CNN, BBC, MSNBC AND THE REST OF THE MSM AREN’T MENTIONING, THEN YOU ARE EVEN MORE GULLIBLE THAN I THOUGHT!
Again remember, paid-up Pfizer journalists, medical practitioners and financially compromised Health organisations are not the best for independent advice.
Over to you in 3, 2, 1 … 💉🩸
@Brixtonian
Do I detect signs of desperation, frustration and anxiety in your post? Do you read carefully my responses to yours or do you rush headlong onto your keyboard without giving a moment’s thought at what you type? Seems so. Let’s analyze your recent post.
Quote: “FDA and your beloved Main Stream Media (MSM) is funded by Pfizer” Unquote.
FDA is funded approximately 53% by the taxpayer and 45% by pharmaceutical companies etc. according to recent figures. 45% is in no way a controlling figure in any equation.
My so-called beloved Main Stream Media does not exist except perhaps as a figment of your imagination. Be assured I have no beloved Main Stream Media; what is it anyway?
Quote “Oh, BTW, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are also major contributors not only to the global MSM, but also to pharmaceutical companies, and health”…..Unquote
Here is a man (Bill Gates) who has contributed vast amounts of his wealth to philanthropic causes to improve the well being of the impoverished and you seemingly sneer at him for his efforts. So, it’s ‘thank you Mr Gates but no thanks, keep your charity in your wallet, it’s not wanted or appreciated’. I simply don’t get it.
Quote: “Furthermore, as I mention this, the WHO wants to remove the SOVEREIGNTY of their 192 members, so that if there are anymore pandemics, lockdowns, and travel restrictions, they can go ahead and dictate vaccine mandates to those signed-up members, whether they/we like it or not”. Unquote.
Since the WHO consists of 192 members and you believe it wants to divest them of their sovereignty and did, it follows the WHO would no longer exist. Your argument is most baffling. I must be missing something.
Do you know the difference between “desperation” and “due diligence”? Obviously not!
Look, you are SADLY convinced by what the main stream media are propagating you – good luck with that for your OWN future health and well-being, however, the tide is turning and more and more medical practitioners, experts and now whistle-blowers are making their voices heard. Wonderful!
The more the merrier, that’s why the undemocratic WHO are currently trying their hardest to remove our sovereignty.
People like you will continue to sleepwalk into whatever anyone tells you without checking whether what you are being told is correct – you seem so happy to do so. Sad really!
JUST ADMIT YOU FELL FOR ALL THE LIES, HOOK, LINE AND SINKER, AND YOU’LL CONTINUE TO TAKE THE mRNA VACCINES BECAUSE BILL GATES (AND MSM)TOLD YOU SO …
BTW @ Oversee, here’s Dr John Campbell’s (yes, a doctor) and a Member of Parliament’s – after a petition of over 100,000 people – take on the World Health Organisation UNDEMOCRATIC move on taking away sovereignty from its members for future vaccines and pandemics.
Watch this troubling development on the YouTube channel titled: ‘Ester McVey MP on WHO’ …
Watch it before the “Thought Police” remove it!
Brixtonian brings up a good point, why were the likes of Peter McCullough silenced? Why were they threatened with prosecution and loss of medical licenses for promoting alternative treatments instead toeing the line and insisting on the fatal (but highly profitable ) treatment protocols that killed hundreds of thousands, netting these hospitals $36,000 per head.
@ Oversee, FYI, your choice to get a barely tested and toxic gene therapy injection comes with a huge pricetag: a large study in Sweden showed 100 percent of those vaxxed had troponin in their blood. This only occurs after damage to the heart muscle occurs. 100 percent of those vaccinated…
@Caustic Bastard.
This can’t be what you meant. This is shifting sand.
https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/joe-rogan-interview-with-peter-mccullough-contains-multiple-false-and-unsubstantiated-claims-about-the-covid-19-pandemic-and-vaccines/
@Oversee – unfortunately it sounds as though you’ve either drank the Fauci/WHO coolaid at worst or lack objectivity at best.
There is overwhelming proof that A: ivermectin and zinc saved many lives and B: if you’re vaxxed it’s a 100 percent certainty that you’ve damaged your heart to some degree.
@Caustic Bastard
Is that the best you can do? I sent you a link to peruse and which debunked Peter McCullough outright. Stop hiding in the cupboard and admit the interview with Mccullough destroyed your argument. I said earlier that all drugs/medicines have a side effect. Pay attention and read carefully the interview again. Floundering will do you no good.
@Caustic Bastard
My first laugh of the day, thanks to you. We do need a bit of cheer in these difficult times. No, I do not drink any ‘coolaid,’ neither the Fauci or WHO brand. What’s the taste like? If those medicines you named saved lives then….great. I can argue the same for the Covid vaccine but you wouldn’t agree. Without casting doubt on your claim there is overwhelming proof the medicines named saved lives but for my enlightenment would you please provide the proof in your response.
@oversee – get tested for blood levels of d-dimer and troponin, if you haven’t had any previous cardiovascular incident (if you have, the results will be skewed. If you’re vaxxed and have not had a previous CVI guaranteed you will have detectable levels of d-dimer and troponin in your system.
Do it, prove your point about the gene therapy being “safe and effective”.
@Caustic Bastard
I thank you for your advice however I have had regular blood tests which have shown no adverse results. I have never questioned your veracity, only asked for proof. I have also heard of the possible effect of troponin over a year or more ago. I can’t stop repeating the medical fact that all, yes all drugs/medicines have a side effect and may affect some people differently to others or not at all. Good conversation from you. Stay safe.
@ Oversee – all the best to you and yours as well.
@Caustic Bastard
Thank you and all the best to you and yours.
@Brixtonian
Are we on the same page? Apparently not. My analysis on your post revealed obvious flaws in your argument. Your argument has been torn to shreds, debunked. If you have a beef with WHO then go argue with them; do not drag me into it. I am neither a signatory nor involved in any way with that organization. Go take up your troubles with them. I thought we were talking about the FDA and UK bodies which authorize the use of the Covid vaccine and its efficacy not whether the WHO wants to divest or make changes to its mandate. I couldn’t care less either way. Let me repeat for the last time: I weighed up the pros and cons of the vaccine as approved by the aforementioned bodies and drew my own conclusion as to whether it would be advantageous to me. I decided it was and took it so I am what you call a pro vaxxer, my choice. You did not, your choice. That’s it. End of story.
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