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LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization on Friday declared an end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency, marking a major step toward the end of the pandemic that has killed more than 6.9 million people, disrupted the global economy and ravaged communities. "It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that the end of the emergency did not mean COVID was over as a global health threat. The WHO's emergency committee first declared that COVID represented its highest level of alert on Jan. 30, 2020. The status helps focus international attention on a global health threat, as well as bolstering collaboration on vaccines and treatments. The decision to end the global health emergency status was supported by a majority of the committee, said Didier Houssin, head of the agency's COVID emergency committee.

CNN —Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said on Friday. WHO’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee discussed the pandemic on Thursday at its 15th meeting on Covid-19, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus concurred that the public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, declaration should end. “Yesterday, the emergency committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. Each country, in turn, declares its own public health emergency – declarations that carry legal weight. The United States is set to let its Covid-19 public health emergency end on May 11.

☆ WHO declares end to Covid-19 global public health emergency
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, December 20, 2021. The spread of Covid-19 is no longer a global public health emergency, the World Health Organization declared Friday. "This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19," Tedros said. "It's therefore with great hope that I declared Covid-19 over as a global health emergency." The WHO's decision comes as the U.S. is set to end its national public health emergency on May 11.

However, a number of countries have recently begun lifting their domestic states of emergency, such as the United States. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he hopes to end the international emergency this year. One source close to negotiations said lifting the "public health emergency of international concern", or PHEIC, label could impact global funding or collaboration efforts. "I expect WHO to end the public health emergency of international concern. If WHO does not end it... [this time], then certainly the next time the emergency committee meets."

☆ WHO fears more deaths in Sudan due to outbreaks, collapse of services
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, April 26 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) expects "many more" deaths in Sudan due to outbreaks of disease and a lack of essential services amid fighting, its director general said on Wednesday. A logo is pictured on the headquarters of the World Health Orgnaization (WHO) ahead of a meeting of the Emergency Committee on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Geneva, Switzerland, January 30, 2020. But paramedics, nurses and doctors are unable to access injured civilians, and civilians are unable to access services." However, the absence of clean water and vaccines, as well as other sanitation issues, represented the main risk to Sudanese, he added. Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva and Jennifer Rigby in London; editing by John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - African countries are lining up to approve a new vaccine for malaria, with 20 million doses available for them to buy this year, the shot’s manufacturer told Reuters. African countries that do not have extensive resources for drug regulation have previously relied on the U.N. agency to initially review new medicines. "We expect many more countries to come through," Mary Hamel, the WHO's malaria vaccine implementation head, told the expert meeting on Tuesday. “We are committed to making the R21 vaccine available to people who need it most,” Poonawalla said. FUNDING DOUBTSThe moves are a further sign that African countries want to exert their own pharmaceutical oversight after COVID-19 exposed inequity in vaccine supply.

Stringer/ReutersThe RSF denied those reports, telling CNN in a statement that it “will never assault any UN staff or employees. Meanwhile, tense efforts to establish a ceasefire have ramped up, with the UN calling for rival factions to end their hostilities. Satellite imagery of the smoke plume at Khartoum International Airport on Sunday. The Sudanese Armed Forces later issued conflicting statements on a proposed 24-hour ceasefire, intended to go into effect later on Tuesday. Both sides had previously agreed to a three-hour ceasefire on Sunday, and again on Monday, with fighting resuming afterward, Perthes said.

☆ Google drops global vaccine requirement to enter buildings, says 'world is in a very different place'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"We put in place emergency measures such as our Covid-19 vaccine policy to keep everyone safe, but now the world is in a very different place. Several hundred Google employees at the time signed and circulated a manifesto opposing the company's Covid vaccine mandate, arguing leadership's decision will have an outsized influence in corporate America. We put in place emergency measures such as our Covid-19 vaccine policy to keep everyone safe, but now the world is in a very different place. Based on this, we’re now lifting our global vaccine policy. Covid-19 vaccines have been a critical part of our overall strategy to keep Googlers safe, especially in the workplace.

☆ China holds the key to understanding COVID-19 origins: WHO chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Without full access to the information that China has, you cannot say this or that," said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in response to a question about the origin of the virus. That's WHO's position and that's why we have been asking China to be cooperative on this." Data from the early days of the COVID pandemic was briefly uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database last month. The WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19, said the latest Chinese information offered some "clues" on origins but no answers. She added WHO still did not know whether some of the research required had been undertaken in China.

April 3 (Reuters) - About one in six adults globally have experienced infertility at least once in their life, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report on Monday, urging countries to actively collect more consistent data on the disease. "Based on the data we have, we cannot say that infertility is increasing or constant ... the jury's still out on that question," he said, citing that data so far has been mixed and inconsistent. The report highlights the need for countries to collect and share consistent data on infertility, separated by age and cause, as well as information on those who need fertility care. About 17.8% of adults in high-income countries have experienced infertility at least once and about 16.5% of adults in low- and middle-income countries, according to the report. Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Equatorial Guinea confirms 13 Marburg cases after WHO comments
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, March 29 (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea has confirmed 13 cases of Marburg disease since the beginning of the epidemic, its health officials said on Wednesday after the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) urged the Central African country's government to report new cases officially. Marburg virus disease is a viral haemorrhagic fever that can have a fatality rate of up to 88%, according to the WHO. Marburg is passed on to people from fruit bats and is from the same virus family responsible for the deadly Ebola disease. "WHO is aware of additional cases and we have asked the government to report these cases officially to WHO," its director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier on Wednesday. There is also an outbreak of Marburg virus in Tanzania, where eight cases including five deaths have been reported in the northwest Kagera region, WHO has said.

☆ Elon Musk, WHO chief spar on Twitter over U.N. agency's role
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during a conversation with game designer Todd Howard (not pictured) at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, California, June 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mike BlakeGENEVA, March 23 (Reuters) - Twitter (TWTR.MX) CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday in a tweet that countries should not "cede authority" to the World Health Organization, and the U.N. health agency's chief quickly rejected his comments. "Countries should not cede authority to WHO," Musk, whose Twitter account has more than 132 million followers, wrote in response to a video of right-wing Australian senator Malcolm Roberts criticising the organisation. Since COVID-19 first emerged more than three years ago, the World Health Organization has complained of an "infodemic" of misinformation and disinformation around the pandemic. The WHO is made of 194 member states which take major decisions on its health policies and budgets through an annual assembly attended by governments.

☆ Data released by China suggests COVID-19 virus may have come from raccoon dogs and 'strengthens' Wuhan wet-market theory
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Newly released genetic data from Wuhan has found raccoon dog DNA blended with the COVID-19 virus. Since the first COVID-19 death in Wuhan on January 11, 2020, the virus has killed 6,873,477 people worldwide. This suggests that the virus may have infected the animals, according to the scientists. "We continue to call on China to be transparent in sharing data and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results. Since the first COVID-19 death — which was recorded in Wuhan, China, on January 11, 2020 — the virus has killed 6,873,477 people around the world, according to WHO data.

☆ WHO, advisors urge China to release all COVID-related data after new research
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Access to the information was subsequently restricted “apparently to allow further data updates” by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). WHO officials discussed the matter with Chinese colleagues, who explained that the new data were intended to be used to update a preprint study from 2022. "We continue to call on China to be transparent in sharing data, and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results," he said. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was shut down by Chinese authorities after the novel coronavirus emerged in the city in late 2019. The market has since been a focus of study of whether the virus had infected several other species before jumping to humans.

☆ Exodus of healthcare workers from poor countries worsening, WHO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Baz RatnerGENEVA, March 14 (Reuters) - Poorer countries are increasingly losing healthcare workers to wealthier ones as the latter seek to shore up their own staff losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes through active recruitment, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. "Health workers are the backbone of every health system, and yet 55 countries with some of the world's most fragile health systems do not have enough and many are losing their health workers to international migration," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general. He was referring to a new WHO list of vulnerable countries which has added eight extra states since it was last published in 2020. Some 115,000 healthcare workers died from COVID around the world during the pandemic but many more left their professions due to burnout and depression, he said. Asked which countries were attracting more workers, he said wealthy OECD countries and Gulf states but added that competition between African countries had also intensified.

☆ Finding COVID-19's origins is a moral imperative: WHO's Tedros
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, March 12 (Reuters) - Discovering the origins of COVID-19 is a moral imperative and all hypotheses must be explored, the head of the World Health Organization said, in his strongest comments yet that the U.N. body remains committed to finding how the virus arose. "Understanding #COVID19's origins and exploring all hypotheses remains: a scientific imperative, to help us prevent future outbreaks (and) a moral imperative, for the sake of the millions of people who died and those who live with #LongCOVID," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitterlate on Saturday. loadingHe was writing to mark three years since the WHO first used the word "pandemic" to describe the global outbreak of COVID-19. Since then, the WHO has set up a scientific advisory group on dangerous pathogens but it has not yet reached any conclusions on how the pandemic began, saying key pieces of data are missing. (This story has been refiled to add the day the comments were made)Reporting by Emma FargeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ WHO fires director in Asia accused of racist misconduct
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Tedros did not refer to Kasai by name, referencing only his title as regional director in the Western Pacific. It is the first time in WHO's history that a regional director has been dismissed. He said that the process of naming a new regional director for the Western Pacific would begin next month, with the election to be held in October. In January, the AP reported that a WHO doctor hoping to replace Kasai as regional director in the Western Pacific had previously faced sexual misconduct accusations. With support of some WHO colleagues and his home country, Waqanivalu was preparing to run for the regional director job.

☆ WHO still working to identify the origins of COVID-19
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, March 3 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) is still working to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, its director general said on Friday, after a U.S. agency was reported to have assessed the pandemic had likely been caused by a Chinese laboratory leak. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies. "I wish to be very clear that WHO has not abandoned any plans to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic," Tedros said. Four other U.S. agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still think COVID-19 was likely the result of natural transmission, while two are undecided, the Journal reported. On Friday, she urged countries, institutions and research groups that might have any information on the origins of the pandemic to share it with the international community.

☆ Earthquake death toll in Turkey rises above 45,000 - AFAD
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, March 1 (Reuters) - The death toll in Turkey from last month's devastating earthquake has risen to 45,089, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Wednesday, bringing the total toll including Syria to about 51,000. The earthquake and subsequent powerful tremors injured more than 108,000 in Turkey and left millions sheltering in tents or seeking to move to other cities. It said it had put up more than 350,000 tents, with tent cities established at 332 places across the region. On Tuesday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that it would support Ankara in its response to the quake. Turkey is "doing its best" but still needed international support to help victims, Tedros said.

☆ Northwest Syria of 'greatest concern' after quake -WHO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"It's clear that the zone of greatest concern at the moment is the area of northwestern Syria," WHO's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, told a briefing in Geneva. We have to remember here that in Syria, we've had ten years of war. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks with a man as he visits quake survivors at a hospital in Aleppo, in the aftermath of the earthquake, Syria February 11, 2023. We've seen the deployment of emergency medical teams. We've seen all the things that we need to see in a disaster.

☆ Explainer: What are the bird flu risks to people and animals?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE BIRD FLU? Bird flu spreads to new countries, threatens non-stop "war" on poultryWHAT BIRDS CAN BE INFECTED? Mammals including bears, seals, foxes and skunks have been infected with H5N1 avian flu, authorities said. If one bird in a flock has avian flu, farmers usually cull all their birds to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus. Additionally, avian flu is not transmissible by eating properly cooked poultry and eggs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

☆ Explainer: Bird flu: what are the risks to people and animals?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE BIRD FLU? Wild birds including waterfowl like ducks can carry bird flu viruses without appearing sick and easily spread them to domesticated poultry like chickens and turkeys, experts said. Mammals including bears, seals, foxes and skunks have been infected with H5N1 avian flu, authorities said. If one bird in a flock has avian flu, farmers usually cull all their birds to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus. Additionally, avian flu is not transmissible by eating properly cooked poultry and eggs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

[1/8] Seho Uyan, who survived a deadly earthquake, but lost his four relatives, sits in front of a collapsed building in Adiyaman, Turkey February 11, 2023. Turkey said about 80,000 people were in hospital, with more than 1 million in temporary shelters. U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths described the earthquake as the region's worst event in 100 years, predicting the death toll would at least double. He praised Turkey's response, saying his experience was that disaster victims were always disappointed by early relief efforts. It has killed 24,617 inside Turkey, and more than 3,500 in Syria, where tolls have not been updated since Friday.

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The recent spread to mammals of H5N1 influenza - commonly known as bird flu - needs to be monitored, but the risk to humans remains low, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. He said the risk to humans remained low, noting that human cases have been rare since the flu strain emerged in 1996. "But we cannot assume that will remain the case and we must prepare for any change in the status quo," Tedros said. He said people were advised not to touch dead or sick wild animals and to instead report them to local and national authorities, who were monitoring the situation. The WHO also recommended strengthening surveillance in settings where humans and animals interact, he said.

☆ WHO says Syria, already in crisis, needs massive humanitarian aid after quake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Senior officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that Syria's humanitarian needs where the highest after a major earthquake killed thousands there and in southern Turkey. Adelheid Marschang, WHO Senior Emergency Officer, said Turkey had a strong capacity to respond to the crisis but that the main unmet needs in the immediate and mid-term would be across the border in Syria, already grappling with a years-long humanitarian crisis due to the civil war and a cholera outbreak. "All over Syria, the needs are the highest after nearly 12 years of protracted, complex crisis, while humanitarian funding continues to decline." WHO said it was dispatching emergency supplies, including trauma and emergency surgical kits, and activating a network of emergency medical teams. He said the WHO was especially concerned about areas of Turkey and Syria where no information had emerged since Monday's earthquake.

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