WHO says COVID-19 is still a global health emergency 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that COVID-19 continues to be a global health emergency, almost three years after the pandemic took the world by surprise. 

The WHO’s emergency committee on COVID-19 met last week and concluded that the pandemic is still a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). 

The WHO first declared COVID-19 to be an international emergency on January 30, 2020, to help facilitate research, funding, and international measures to contain the disease, reported Reuters. 

Despite positive case numbers falling throughout the world, the United Nations agency said that countries should continue to take precautions against the further spread of the virus and advise the most vulnerable population to get vaccinated. 

“Although the public perception is that the pandemic is over in some parts of the world, it remains a public health event that continues to adversely and strongly affect the health of the world's population," the WHO's committee said.

The WHO added that the number of weekly deaths associated with the virus is the lowest since the pandemic began. However, the numbers still remain high compared to other viruses. 

Since the start of the pandemic, more than 622 million confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported and more than 6.5 million deaths have occurred. Yet the agency believes these numbers are significant underestimates.

"This pandemic has surprised us before and very well may again," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.