“It is with great hope that I declare the end of Covid-19 a global health emergency,” said its director-general, Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, from that organization’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Chilean Health Minister Ximena Aguilera assured that this is great news but does not mean the disappearance of the disease, but rather its transformation into a chronic respiratory disease like influenza.
For the time being, the headline has not reported whether there will be immediate changes to the current plan to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the country, where the sanitary mask is recommended in crowded places and mandatory in all health centers.
César Bustos, infectologist at the Universidad de los Andes clinic, said that the end of the international emergency was achieved thanks to vaccination campaigns and the natural immunization of people suffering from the disease, be it severe or mild.
Despite this best-case scenario, he explained, one should not be on guard as the WHO statement does not imply an end to transmission of the virus.
In just over three years, Covid-19 infected around 765 million people worldwide, of whom more than 20 million lost their lives, particularly between 2020 and 2021.
According to the WHO, it was more than a health crisis as it disrupted the economy, disrupted travel and trade, plunged millions into poverty and forced borders and schools to close, causing loneliness, isolation, anxiety and depression.
Chile has reported 218 new cases and 19 deaths from causes related to Covid-19 this Friday, and 5,284,950 people have contracted the virus and 61,428 have died since the pandemic began.
There are currently 499 active cases and 40 patients are being admitted to intensive care units, 26 of them on assisted ventilation.
jha/car/eam