The World Health Organisation's decision earlier this month to downgrade Covid from 'public health emergency of international concern', or PHEIC (the highest possible level of alarm that mandates countries to act under international health regulations) does not mean that Covid is over, the organisation has said.
The downgrade "does not mean the pandemic itself is over, but the global emergency it has caused is, for now”, it stated -- going on to clarify that the announcement meant Covid is no longer considered an “unusual or unexpected" event.
According to Full Fact, some media outlets reported the pandemic as “officially over”, despite the fact that neither the WHO nor the UK government had suggested this.
Further, WHO told Full Fact it is unlikely the Covid pandemic, which is now in its fourth year, will be declared over "in the near future".
Some diseases may be considered pandemics for many years. In its response to Full Fact, the WHO referenced cholera, which has been an ongoing pandemic since 1961.
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