It is"with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency", World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
That was weeks after the mysterious new viral disease was first detected in China and when fewer than 100 cases and no deaths had been reported outside that country. "We must promise ourselves and our children and grandchildren that we will never make those mistakes again." "The emergency phase is over, but Covid is not," agreed Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on Covid-19.Vaccines, which were developed at record speed and started rolling out by late 2020, remain effective at preventing severe disease and death, despite new and more infectious Covid variants that have appeared.
An antivax movement on steroids and massive misinformation campaigns over social media meanwhile turned vaccination into a charged political issue. This condition has been estimated to impact one in 10 people who contract Covid, suggesting that hundreds of millions could need longer-term care, he cautioned.