WHO is confident that COVID-19 will cease to be an ‘international emergency’ this year

On the third anniversary of the declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic, the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has assured that he is “confident” that this year Covid will cease to be an “international public health emergency”.

“I am confident that this year we can say that Covid-19 has ended as a public health emergency of international importance,” he assured, although he has registered that deaths from the disease continue to occur. “Last week there were still more than 5,000 deaths from Covid-19. There are 5,000 more for a pathology that can be prevented and treated ”, lamented Tedros.

For this reason, it has once again urged the union between the countries to offer a joint response “based on a shared commitment to solidarity and equity”, and has vindicated the ‘Pandemic Accord’, which the countries are now negotiating. “It is an agreement between nations to work cooperatively with each other, not in competition, to prepare for and respond to epidemics and pandemics,” Tedros explained.

At this point, it has been emphasized that “it is being negotiated by countries, for countries, and will be adopted and implemented by countries, in accordance with their own national laws”, insisting that their powers will be respected. “The support of some that this ‘Pandemic Accord’ is a violation of national sovereignty is simply wrong,” he stressed, adding that “countries, and only countries, will decide what the agreement contains, not the personnel of The OMS”.

According to Tedros, this agreement would be “an instrument of international law,” similar to the many other agreements and treaties that nations have agreed to. For example, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change does not give the United Nations powers to dictate countries’ climate or energy policies, and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control does not give the WHO powers to regulate tobacco in any country”, he clarified.

In this sense, the role of the WHO would consist of helping to apply the treaty agreed upon by the countries, which, initially, will include all the challenges that the world has faced “to guarantee that the mistakes made are not repeated.” they committed in this pandemic.”