A World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Committee is to meet on Monday, January 30, to consider whether the COVID-19 pandemic still represents a global emergency, three years after it was first declared so.
WHO Spokesperson Carla Drysdale confirmed the meeting at a recent Geneva press briefing. The Emergency Committee advises WHO DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who makes the ultimate call on whether an outbreak represents a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, which is the United Nation’s highest level of alert.
Several leading scientists and WHO advisers say it may be too early to declare the end of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency phase, due to high levels of infections in China.
A date for the decision arising from the meeting has not been made public.
