By Andrea Hargraves :strip_icc()/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_e536e40f1baf4c1a8bf1ed12d20577fd/internal_photos/bs/2022/G/k/K2vIF7SoAaSNcpdLpZtg/img-3892.jpeg)
in a hopeful tone, Tedros AdhanomDirector general World Health Organization On Wednesday, the 21-year-old (WHO) said he hoped to issue a decree to end the COVID-19 emergency next year. However, he pointed out a series of loopholes that do not allow to say that the epidemic is over, even with a more encouraging scenario with cases and deaths on a downward trend.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has abated significantly this year, the global outbreak of monkeypox is subsiding and there have been no cases of Ebola in Uganda for more than three weeks,” he said. “We expect each of these emergencies to be declared at different times over the next year.”
Adhanom stressed that we are “in a much better position with the pandemic than we were a year ago,” when we were experiencing the early stages of the Omicron supplement wave, and that the number of deaths from the disease reported weekly “has fallen by 90%.” The organization’s dashboard shows that in the past 24 hours, 354,000 new infections and 895 deaths were reported worldwide.
However, he stressed that “there are still many uncertainties and gaps that make us say that the epidemic is over.” Among them, he mentioned, are the lack of monitoring, testing, and sequencing; millions of unvaccinated people; gaps in treatment and health systems; Gaps in understanding the post-Covid situation, as well as how this pandemic began. For him, all of this undermines our knowledge of how the virus is changing, endangering lives and also impairing our ability to predict and deal with future pandemics.
Tedros stressed that he was “very concerned” about the development of the disease in China, “with the increasing reports of serious illnesses.” “The World Health Organization supports China to focus its efforts on vaccinating the most vulnerable people across the country, and we continue to extend our support for clinical care and the protection of its health system.”
Covid was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in January 2020. According to the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations, a legal agreement involving 196 countries, a public health emergency is defined as “an exceptional event that has been identified as posing a risk to public health in other countries through the international spread of the disease and may require a coordinated international response.”
Monkeypox and Ebola in Uganda
The head of the World Health Organization also spoke about the emergencies that arose during the year 2022. Regarding monkeypox, which has come to be called Mpox, he indicated that more than 83,000 cases and 66 deaths had been reported.
“As with covid, the number of Mpox cases reported per week has decreased by more than 90% from the peak. If the current trend continues, we hope that next year we will also be able to declare an end to this emergency,” he said.
With no new cases since the end of November and no patients currently being treated, Adhanom commented that the organization had begun a “countdown” to the end of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda. “If no new cases are detected, the outbreak will be declared over on January 11.”
He further commented that the organization continues to assist 30 countries in responding to cholera outbreaks; As well as providing basic services, health, and treatment of acute malnutrition, in regions of Africa affected by the climate crisis, with droughts and floods.