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World Health Organization declares end to COVID global health emergency

COVID remains a major health threat, WHO director-general says, and has killed at least 20 million people

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, shown here in 2021, said on Friday that he had accepted an expert committee’s advice on the pandemic’s status.

Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The World Health Organization on Friday declared an end to the COVID-19 global health emergency.

Speaking at a press conference at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had accepted the advice of an expert committee, which met on Thursday, regarding the pandemic’s status. “It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” he said.

The...