Cape Town - After more than three years of immeasurable loss to lives and livelihoods and with the administration of billions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHIEC) over but cautioned countries to not drop their guard in their response to the pandemic.
The announcement was made during a media briefing on Friday by WHO director-general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus following a meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) emergency committee regarding the Covid-19 pandemic on Thursday.
The decision was taken due to the global decline in Covid-19-related deaths, hospitalisations and intensive care unit admissions, and the high levels of population immunity to Covid-19.
Globally, 13.3 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered.
In the Western Cape, there are currently 201 active Covid-19 cases while 5 787 692 Covid-19 vaccines have been administered, said provincial Health and Wellness Department spokesperson Mark van der Heever.
The first case of Covid-19 was detected in China in December 2019 and the WHO declared it a PHEIC on January 30, 2020. It characterised the outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The WHO does not declare a pandemic nor the end of a pandemic.
“At that time, outside China, there were fewer than 100 reported cases and no reported deaths. In the three years since then, Covid-19 has turned our world upside down. Almost seven million deaths have been reported to WHO but we know the toll is several times higher, at least 20 million,” Ghebreyesus said.
The risk of new variants emerging remains, which could cause a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths, he said.
“On the committee’s advice, I have decided to use a provision in the International Health Regulations that has never been used before to establish a review committee to develop longterm, standing recommendations for countries on how to manage Covid-19 on an ongoing basis.”
WHO director of immunisation, vaccines and biologicals Dr Kate O’Brien said the authorisation of Covid-19 vaccines will continue.
“Coverage of those individuals who are at high risk of serious illness and of death is still far too low in so many countries around Africa and in other parts of the world, and especially with the booster dose, which is really important for protection against that severe end of the spectrum.”