The WHO’s (World Health Organization) emergency committee on Covid-19 on Wednesday unanimously affirmed that the virus remains a major public health danger and insisted that countries must stop dropping their guard.
With many nations relaxing public health and social measures, and drastically reducing testing for the virus, the World Health Organization’s group of experts said the pandemic was far from being at an end.
“Now is not the time to let our guard down — on the contrary, and this is an extremely strong recommendation,” committee chair Didier Houssin told a press conference.
“The situation is far from over with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic, the circulation of the virus is still very active, mortality remains high and the virus is evolving in an unpredictable way,” the French doctor warned.
“Now is not the time for relaxation on this virus, nor weakness in surveillance, testing and reporting, nor laxity in public and social health measures and no resignation when it comes to vaccination.”
The committee meets every three months to discuss the pandemic and reports to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
It concluded that the pandemic still constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) — the highest level of alert that the WHO can sound.
