WHO Ends COVID-19 Global Emergency
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency.
Key Quotes: "Yesterday, the emergency committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday. "I have accepted that advice." The advice to end the emergency declaration cited "the decreasing trend in COVID-19 deaths, the decline in COVID-19 related hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions, and the high levels of population immunity."
What It Means: According to the WHO, COVID-19 continues to spread but has trended downward for over a year as people worldwide built up immunity to the virus. The declaration's end is largely symbolic.
For Context: The organization declared COVID-19 a "public health emergency of international concern" in January 2020. The U.S.'s COVID-19 national public health emergency is set to expire next week.
How the Media Covered It: Right-rated sources covered the news less prominently than left- and center-rated sources did. CNN (Lean Left bias) quoted WHO officials who said "While we’re not in the crisis mode, we can’t let our guard down," and "there’s still a public health threat out there." Daily Mail (Right) said that "While the virus poses a minimal threat to the developed world, it remains a danger in other areas."
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
WHO says Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency
Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
WHO’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee discussed the pandemic on Thursday at its 15th meeting on Covid-19, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus concurred that the public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, declaration should end.
“For more than a year the pandemic has been on a downward trend,” Tedros said at a news conference Friday.
“This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19,” Tedros said. “Yesterday,...
From the Center
WHO Declares Covid-19 Pandemic Emergency Over
The World Health Organization declared an end to the Covid-19 emergency, signaling that one of the most deadly and economically devastating pandemics in modern history is receding as the disease that caused it becomes a routine illness.
Covid-19 is here to stay, but the pandemic has been in a downward trend for more than a year because people around the world have built up immunity to the virus, the WHO said on Friday. The trend has enabled most countries to return to pre-pandemic life, even as Covid-19 continues to spread.
The move...
From the Right
'I declare COVID over': World Health Organization boss says pandemic is no longer a global health emergency
The Covid pandemic is no longer a global emergency, according to leaders at the World Health Organization (WHO) — a symbolic moment that the virus's reign over the world is near its end.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the United Nations organization, said Friday: 'It's with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency.'
However, WHO officials say the virus remains a threat and the pandemic persists. While the virus poses a minimal threat to the developed world, it remains a danger in other areas.
It comes...
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