James Kon
The Ministry of Health (MoH) will no longer share information related to COVID-19 to the public starting today after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 infection is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
However, the MoH will continue to monitor the situation concerning COVID-19 infection as part of the ongoing monitoring of infectious diseases and will inform the public of developments regarding infectious diseases according to current needs.
According to the MoH, the WHO on Friday issued a statement, regarding the outcome of the 15th Meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee on May 4 where the COVID-19 infection is no longer constituted as a PHEIC.
This means that the WHO no longer considers the infection situation as a global emergency.
Before reaching the decision, the WHO together with the IHR Emergency Committee held a meeting and examined the trend of decreasing deaths of COVID-19 cases and the admission of COVID-19 cases to hospitals, as well as the high levels of population immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In addition, although the virus continues to evolve and produce new variants, the current variants are not associated with severe cases.
The WHO recommends that the management of the infection of COVID-19 be integrated into the control and long-term management of infectious diseases as a routine health issue.
