"End of COVID-19 Pandemic"... WHO Lifts Emergency Status

WHO Emergency Status Lifted After 3 Years and 4 Months

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on the 5th (local time) that it will lift the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) previously declared for COVID-19.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made this decision following a meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on COVID-19.

The day before, WHO held the 15th International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on COVID-19 at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss whether to maintain the COVID-19 PHEIC declaration. PHEIC is the highest level of public health alert that WHO can issue. When an outbreak of a specific disease is declared a PHEIC, WHO can strongly promote various research, funding, and international health measures to contain it.

With this decision to lift the declaration, the highest level of alert for COVID-19, which had been maintained for 3 years and 4 months, will be lifted. WHO declared the COVID-19 PHEIC in January 2020.

At a press conference that day, the WHO Director-General stated, "The COVID-19 pandemic is on a declining trend." The Associated Press explained that WHO's announcement "signifies the symbolic end of the devastating coronavirus pandemic that once triggered unimaginable lockdowns, upended the global economy, and claimed at least 7 million lives worldwide."

Following WHO's decision, domestic quarantine authorities are also likely to downgrade the COVID-19 crisis level. Currently, the domestic COVID-19 crisis level is at the highest "Severe" stage among the four levels of infectious disease crisis alerts. If authorities lower it by one level to the "Alert" stage, most of the remaining quarantine measures are expected to be lifted.

For example, the isolation requirement for confirmed COVID-19 cases will be reduced from 7 days to 5 days. Incoming travelers will no longer be required to undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing after entry. The operation of temporary screening clinics will cease. Daily reports on COVID-19 confirmed cases will change to weekly reports. Temporarily designated COVID-19 dedicated hospital beds will be reduced and operated mainly as permanently designated beds.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH), currently headed by the Prime Minister, will be disbanded, and instead, the Ministry of Health and Welfare Minister will lead the Central Accident Response Headquarters as the overall disaster crisis management system.