Covid is no longer an emergency

Covid is no longer an emergency

Subject : International Relations

Section:   International Organisation

Context: WHO raised its highest level of alert and termed the infection a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a designation that remained in place for over three years.

More on the News:

• World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Covid-19 was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and that the focus would now be on the long-term management of the infection.
• The novel viral infection came to light after China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases with no known cause from Wuhan on December 31, 2019. By the end of January 2020, nearly 10,000 cases had been reported, including more than 100 cases in 19 other countries.
• WHO raised its highest level of alert and termed the infection a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a designation that remained in place for over three years.

Why did the WHO declare Covid-19 a pandemic?

• SARS-CoV-2 was a novel virus about which very little was known in the initial days. Later, as many patients reached hospitals with pneumonia and in need of oxygen support, doctors and researchers discovered that the infection put the immune system into overdrive, leading to a cytokine storm when immune cells started attacking the patient’s own organs. This tended to happen more in the elderly, and in those with existing comorbidities like diabetes.
• There are three conditions for declaring a disease a public health emergency.
  • One, it is spreading across several countries.
  • Two, it is leading to serious illness, hospitalisations, and deaths.
  • Three, serious stress on health systems because of the disease.
  • Covid-19 fulfilled all three conditions in 2020 and 2021

Why has the WHO removed the designation now?

• Over the last three years, doctors and researchers have figured out a lot — methods of transmission; who are at highest risk of severe disease and death; better, cheaper, and point-of-care diagnostics; a treatment protocol that works; medicines to prevent viral replication that can help in reducing severity of the disease; and most importantly, vaccines that can prevent severe disease.
• Governments have strengthened healthcare systems and rolled out vaccination drives. In India, more than 90% of people above the age of 12 years have received their two primary doses. Since many were infected and vaccinated, the population has developed a ‘hybrid immunity’ that has been shown to offer better protection against future severe disease.
• Health systems are no longer stressed. Now 2023 Covid-19 did not satisfy the three conditions for a disease to be a public health emergency.

How will the WHO declaration change disease management?

• There are no lockdowns; international travel, restaurants, and cinemas are normal; and containment and control measures haven’t been needed for some time now. So, not much will change on ground with the WHO declaration.