Is it true that the WHO declared the end of the coronavirus pandemic?

On Friday, May 5, the news was widely circulated that the WHO had declared the coronavirus pandemic over. We have verified the correctness of this statement.

That the WHO canceled status pandemic for coronavirus infection, wrote many Media: "Kommersant"(WHO has canceled the COVID-19 pandemic status"), RBC (“WHO announced the end of the coronavirus pandemic”), “Moskovsky Komsomolets"(The COVID-19 pandemic is over), "Vesti.ru"("The pandemic is over"), "Fontanka"("WHO: No more COVID-19 pandemic"), The Insider (“WHO declared the end of the coronavirus pandemic”).

Pandemic (from Greek - “the whole people”) - this is an unusually strong epidemic that has spread across countries and continents; the highest degree of development of the epidemic process. WHO uses the International Health Regulations to classify various health emergencies. The first version of such rules appeared back in 1951. From time to time this document was revised and supplemented. In 2010, the definition of a pandemic was used to refer to the H1N1 influenza outbreak. Then the WHO noted, that “a pandemic is the spread of a new disease on a global scale,” and indicated important criteria for a pandemic (“a new virus spreads throughout the world,” “leads to several simultaneous epidemics around the world with huge numbers of deaths and diseases,” “most people are not immune to it”), and also added that “viruses that caused previous pandemics usually originated from animal viruses.”

However, the decision to call the H1N1 outbreak a pandemic subjected to public criticism for creating a panic, guided by which many countries purchased vaccines in volumes far in excess of the real need. The greatest public debate was caused by information posted on the official website that the H1N1 influenza outbreak is a pandemic, which is characterized by a huge number of deaths and illnesses. After a wave of criticism, WHO spokeswoman Nathalie Boudou said the definition was considered erroneous and removed from the agency's website.

Now instead of the term “pandemic” WHO uses Another terminology is “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC). Threat situations can have minimal consequences (Class 1), moderate (Class 2) or major (Class 3). Threat situations given This definition is: “An extraordinary event defined as presenting a risk to public health in other States as a result of the international spread of disease and which may require a coordinated international response.” PHEIC status has been assigned to seven outbreaks to date: H1N1 swine flu (2009), polio (2014), Ebola hemorrhagic fever (2014), Zika fever (2015–2016), Ebola hemorrhagic fever (2018–2020), coronavirus infection (end of 2019) and monkey pox (2022nd).

In actual editorial staff There are no international health regulations (adopted in 2005) for the term “pandemic” at all, as well as its criteria or procedure for declaring a particular infection a pandemic. Therefore, the WHO as a whole could neither introduce nor abolish the pandemic. Instead, at the 15th meeting of the Emergency Committee regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus reported, that “COVID-19 is now an established and ongoing public health problem and not a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).” In the news about this committee meeting on the organization’s official website and in the published materials of the meeting, the word “pandemic” is mentioned as many as 12 times in relation to the infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. For example, phrases such as “the time has come to move toward long-term management of the COVID-19 pandemic” or “it is critical to address the gaps identified during the pandemic.” That is, the organization’s leaders and committee members continue to consider coronavirus infection a pandemic. Separately, the WHO website published the opening remarks of the WHO Director General at the media briefing. Tedros Ghebreyesus is in it speaks about cancellation of PHEIC status: 

“This does not mean that COVID-19 is over as a global health threat. In the past week, COVID-19 has claimed a life every three minutes—and that's just the deaths we know about. As we speak, thousands of people around the world are fighting for their lives in intensive care units. And millions more continue to live with the debilitating consequences of COVID-19. <...> The worst thing any country can do now is use this news as a reason to let its guard down, dismantle the systems it has built, or send a message to its people that COVID-19 is no longer something to worry about. This news only means that it is time for countries to move from a state of emergency to fighting COVID-19 along with other infectious diseases.”

WHO appears to be well aware that there may be public confusion about what constitutes PHEIC and what constitutes a pandemic. Therefore, on February 26, 2023, I released a video about this difference. WHO expert and head of the emergency disease technical team Maria Van Kerkhove explains: 

“A public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) is defined as an extraordinary event that poses a risk to public health in other States due to the international spread of disease and potentially requires a coordinated international response. This definition implies that the situation is serious, sudden, unusual, unexpected, has public health implications beyond the national borders of the affected states and may require immediate international action. A pandemic is a little different. A pandemic usually occurs when a new virus appears and affects the world's population. It is very difficult to determine when a new virus becomes a pandemic. The idea behind declaring a PHEIC, the WHO's highest alert level under the International Health Regulations, is to coordinate immediate action before the event becomes even larger and potentially becomes a pandemic. With COVID-19, we are in both a PHEIC and a pandemic. And while we've heard the CEO talk about the world's ability to come together and end PHEIC in 2023, we may still be in a pandemic for quite some time because this virus is still with us, which means we need to take measured measures. We must improve all of our systems to be able to reduce the impact of COVID-19 as we move forward. We will be living responsibly with this virus for the foreseeable future, and that means we need to save as many lives as possible and protect as many people as possible now, using the tools we have now.”

That is, the organization's experts, at least in February, understood the need for educational work to clarify the difference between an international public health emergency and a pandemic, suggesting that if PHEIC was lifted, people might be misled into thinking that the pandemic was over - which, in fact, happened. Moreover, formally, the WHO, in principle, does not have any protocol introducing or canceling pandemics.

Cover image: Image by Jeyaratnam Caniceus from Pixabay

Mostly not true

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