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WHO says working to end COVID as global public health emergency

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Raphael Bosano, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Health workers assist a patient being admitted at the Manila COVID-19 Field Hospital located at the Quirino Grand Stand on January 12, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/file " src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/01/22/20220112-covid-field-hospital-manila-gc-8510.jpg"/><figcaption>Health workers assist a patient being admitted at the Manila COVID-19 Field Hospital located at the Quirino Grand Stand on January 12, 2022. <em>George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA – The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it is working to declare an end to the COVID-19 outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern, but doing so &quot;doesn’t necessarily mean the pandemic itself will be over.&quot;</p><p>“What we are trying to work toward this year is to end the emergency; to take the death and devastation of COVID-19 out of all countries, not just some countries. Many countries have announced that their emergency is over, but that the pandemic is not. I think that’s an important distinction,&quot; Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s Techincal Lead for COVID-19, said at the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of WHO.</p><p>The criteria that have to be met to say that COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern is over is being discussed, according to the WHO. A significant aspect of this is greatly reducing the virus&#x27; morbidity and mortality.</p><p>In its latest epidemiologic report, the WHO recorded over 9,000 fatalities globally from May 16 to 22. Despite an observed decline, Van Kerkhove says the number remains unacceptable in the context of available tools to save people’s lives.</p><p>A 3% decrease was also seen in terms of the number of cases worldwide this week, with over 3.7 million compared to 3.6 million cases the week prior. </p><p>But Van Kerkhove said that their reliability on the tally of cases is &quot;dwindling.&quot;</p><p>“I’m not as confident that those numbers are as firm as they could be because testing rates have dropped,” she said.</p><p>She, however, stressed the importance of testing and surveillance now that more sublineages of the omicron variant were seen increasing in proportion. </p><p>Reducing the amount of testing may mean losing track of the virus, its trends, and possible “changes in the populations of those getting affected.”</p><p>Cutting down on testing will also affect genome sequencing, she said.</p><p>The BA.2 omicron sublineage remains to be the globally dominant variant, but the BA.4, BA.5, and BA.2.12.1 have seen growth in some countries. </p><p>Based on surveillance, the BA.4 sublineage has been seen in 2,000 sequences from 30 countries, while the BA.5 in 1,400 sequences from 26 countries.</p><p>The Philippines has recently detected the BA.4 and BA.2.12.1 sublineage.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/21/22/doh-detects-case-of-omicron-ba4-subvariant-in-ph">DOH detects case of omicron BA.4 subvariant in PH from Pinoy traveler</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/17/22/ph-detects-3-more-cases-of-omicron-ba2121">PH detects 3 cases of omicron BA.2.12.1 in Western Visayas</a></li></ul><p>While these sublineages appeared to be more transmissible, there has been no evidence citing changes in the severity of illness that they cause.</p><p>As more countries are said to be “living with the virus,&quot; Van Kerkhove emphasized the need to live with it responsibly.</p><p>“Many are not living with it responsibly because living with COVID does not mean we give up and there’s nothing left to do. It means we live with it responsibly and look at COVID-19 in an integrated way with other respiratory diseases,” she said.</p><p>“My hesitation in being able to say when it will be over for sure is because we just don’t know how the virus will evolve. The hard part of this will end, but we’re not there yet,” she cautioned.</p><div><strong> FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1887788" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The WHO has said that it is working to declare an end to the COVID-19 outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern. 

WHO says working to end COVID as global public health emergency

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WHO says working to end COVID as global public health emergency

Raphael Bosano,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 27, 2022 04:46 PM PHT

Read More:

WHO

World Health Organization

COVID

COVID-19

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COVID public health emergency of international concern

COVID pandemic

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COVID-19 pandemic

World Health Assembly

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