WHO announces end to coronavirus pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a public healthcare emergency.

This follows from a statement by the Ministry of Health with reference to the statement of the World Health Organization (WHO) based on the results of the fifteenth meeting of the Committee on Emergency Situations of the International Medical and Sanitary Regulations, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

"Members of the Committee highlighted the global trend of declining mortality rates from COVID-19, a decrease in the total number of hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions related to COVID-19, as well as a high level of population immunity to SARS-CoV-2. The Committee recognized that SARS-CoV-2 will continue to circulate, but it is no longer an emergency event, as it was, for example, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic... The Committee agreed that the time has come to move from an emergency situation to a long-term treatment of SARS-CoV- 2 as a permanent health care problem," the message reads.

It is noted that an essential factor in such a decision was the assessment of the state of vaccination in the world.

The Committee highlighted that 13.3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide.

"Currently, 89% of health workers and 82% of adults over 60 have completed the primary series, although coverage in these priority groups varies in different regions. Since the beginning of the vaccine campaign in Ukraine, more than 35.4 million vaccinations have been carried out. As of April 30, since early 2023, more than 850,000 people had not received the second dose, and more than 12.3 million people did not receive the first booster vaccination dose. At the same time, vaccination remains the only way to reduce the risk of a severe course of the coronavirus disease," the message reads.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 5.5 million cases of the disease have been detected in Ukraine (of which almost 416,000 are among children).

The disease took the lives of 112,268 people (89 were children, 1,256 were medical workers).

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in April, the Cabinet of Ministers extended the state of emergency and quarantine throughout Ukraine due to the COVID-19 coronavirus infection until June 30.

The Cabinet of Ministers introduced a quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus from March 12, 2020.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced the pandemic of the Covid-19 coronavirus in the world.

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