LONDON, May 5 (Portal) – The World Health Organization ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 on Friday, more than three years after its original declaration, and said countries should now deal with the virus, which along with others kills more than 6.9 million Infectious diseases killed people.

The global health agency’s Emergency Committee met on Thursday and recommended that the UN agency declare the end of the coronavirus crisis a “public health emergency of international concern” — the highest alert level — in effect since January 30, 2020.

“I therefore have high hopes of declaring COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that the end of the emergency does not mean that COVID as a global health threat is over.

During a lengthy conference call to brief the press on the decision, some WHO members got emotional as they urged countries to reflect on lessons learned during the pandemic.

“We cannot forget these pyres. We cannot forget the graves that were dug. None of us up here will forget them,” said WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove.

The COVID death toll has slowed from a peak of more than 100,000 people a week in January 2021 to just over 3,500 in the week ending April 24, 2023, according to WHO data, reflecting widespread vaccination, the availability of better treatments and the Population reflects immunity to previous infections.

The end of the emergency could mean international cooperation or funding efforts also end, or a shift in focus, although many have already adjusted as the pandemic eased in different regions.

“The fight is not over yet. We still have weaknesses and those weaknesses that we still have in our system will be exposed by this virus or any other virus. And it needs to be fixed,” said WHO emergency director Michael Ryan.

The WHO does not declare the beginning or end of pandemics, although it began using the term for COVID in March 2020.

The ultrastructural morphology of the 2019 novel coronavirus is seen in an illustration released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, January 29, 2020. Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM/CDC/Handout via Portal.

“In most cases, pandemics really do end when the next pandemic begins,” Ryan said.

Last year US President Joe Biden said the pandemic was over. Like a number of other countries, the world’s largest economy has started phasing out its national state of emergency for COVID, which officially ends May 11, meaning it will stop paying for vaccines and testing for many people, and shift responsibility onto the commercial ones market will shift.

The European Union also said in April last year that the emergency phase of the pandemic was over and that other regions had taken similar steps.

“SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM”

The WHO statement comes just four months after China ended its ongoing tight COVID restrictions and was hit by a large spike in infections.

The decision also suggests that WHO advisers believe a new, more dangerous variant of coronavirus is unlikely to emerge in the coming months, although the virus remains unpredictable.

“I will not hesitate to convene another emergency committee should COVID-19 threaten our world again,” said WHO chief Tedros.

Testing has dropped dramatically in many parts of the world and people have largely stopped wearing masks. Mask wearing has resumed in some countries during COVID outbreaks. The WHO released a plan this week advising countries on how to live with COVID in the long term.

COVID will continue to challenge healthcare systems worldwide in the long term, including long COVID, infectious disease experts say. “No one should take[that]to mean that COVID-19 is no longer a problem,” said Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh.

“It is still a significant public health concern and likely will remain so for the foreseeable future.”

Reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Adaptation by Josephine Mason

Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.

Jennifer Rigby

Thomson Portal

Jen reports on health issues affecting people around the world, from malaria to malnutrition. As part of the Health & Pharma team, recent notable articles include an investigation into health care for young transgender people in the UK, as well as stories of the rise in measles after COVID hit routine vaccination and efforts to prevent the next pandemic. Previously she worked at the Telegraph newspaper and Channel 4 News in the UK and freelanced in Myanmar and the Czech Republic.

Bhanvi Satija

Thomson Portal

Bhanvi Satija reports on pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare industry in the United States. She holds a postgraduate degree in International Journalism from the City, University of London.

Video of testimony by Donald Trump, which was shown Thursday to juries at the civil trial in New York, where the former American president is being accused by an author of rape, was released on Friday and the media began airing it.

For 48 minutes, we see Donald Trump, wearing a blue tie and white shirt under a dark jacket, defending himself, sometimes vehemently, and answering questions from plaintiff’s attorney, former Elle magazine columnist E. John Carroll.

The now 79-year-old ex-journalist accused Donald Trump in a 2019 book of raping her in a fitting room in the lingerie department of New York luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s, after which she filed a complaint against him for defamation, then last November for rape in a civil lawsuit.

“This is the most ridiculous, disgusting story”

The Republican billionaire did not appear at the trial, which began last week, and in his absence, excerpts from video taken at the trial in October 2022 were broadcast during the trial.

“It’s the most ridiculous, disgusting story. It’s an invention out of nowhere,” he says of the allegations, calling E. Jean Carroll a “liar” and “sick.”

VIDEO. Donald Trump criminally indicted by courts: a first for a former American president

He reiterates that he doesn’t know the journalist and reiterates that she is “not (his) type”. But when the lawyer shows him a photograph of himself in front of E. Jean Carroll at a party years before they allegedly met in 1996, he mistakes the complainant for his ex-wife Marla. “It’s very vague,” he adds when his attorney corrects him by whispering, “It’s (E. Jean) Carroll.”

“If you’re a star, they let you do it”

The former president is also invited to respond to his comments in a now-famous video in 2005, in which we hear him brag about kissing and touching the women he likes at will. And to add: “If you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do everything. Catch her by the pussy”.

“It’s historically true for stars (…) if you look at the last million years, I think it’s true to a large extent, not always, but to a large extent, whether we regret it or not,” he explains.

“And do you consider yourself a star? ‘ asks E. Jean Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan. “I think you can say that, yes,” he replies.

Several journalists had asked the presiding judge on Thursday after the trial to release the video, but he ruled it was up to the parties to do so.

Fratelli di Crozza, which airs Friday prime time on NOVE and streams on Discovery+, returns with a new monologue Moritz Crozza who stresses how politicians, busy creating videos on social networks to gather consensus on the subject of work, are not worried about a not-too-distant future in which artificial intelligence risks taking the place of human intelligence “Now I’ll show you the list of jobs at risk: cashiers, accountants, photographers, postmen, lawyers, journalists, all replaced by silicon. Is there a court case? So. The artificial intelligence reads all deeds and all judgments in an instant, from King Solomon to today, and writes the judgment in 5 seconds. For example, all Ruby processes: Ruby One, Ruby Bis, and Ruby Ter would have terminated when Ruby was still a minor. Not to mention the end of the staff. Come on, the staff too. They think IBM was born from engineers to build computers and made them so good that today computers kill engineers. 300 million workers gone, and by the way all here in advanced countries. On the contrary, there will be immigration, we will be the ones who will look for work in Burkina Faso. ‘Excuse me, can you let me hack something, please?'”.

Stream and full episodes on Discovery+ (www.discoveryplus.it)

London.- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived in this capital today to attend the coronation of Carlos III tomorrow. to attend the King of the United Kingdom.

Sources close to the delegation accompanying him said Lula will also have a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this Friday.

The two will discuss trade, technological cooperation and environmental issues. No new bilateral agreements are currently expected to be signed.

In London tonight, the founder of the Workers’ Party will also attend a reception hosted by the British royal family at Buckingham Palace, the monarch’s official residence.

Lula spoke to Carlos III over the phone on March 6 about pacts between the two nations and climate issues.

“I have just spoken to King Carlos III. on the phone. We spoke about the will to deepen alliances and talks between our countries on the issue of climate and environmental protection,” the former trade unionist wrote on the occasion of the occasion on a social network.

During the conversation, they also extended an invitation to Lula to attend the investiture of the Sovereign Consort Camilla Parker Bowles, to be held tomorrow at Westminster Abbey in London.

Carlos III automatically became king upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022.

Saturday’s event will be chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church.

The abbey, whose royal connections are far-reaching, was the scene of the funeral services of Elizabeth II and also the son of Charles III. and current heir to the throne, Prince William, married his wife Kate.

For the population, the highlight of the celebrations is likely to be on May 7th: a concert at Windsor Castle that brings together British and international stars of music and dance.

Charles III is King and Head of State not only of the United Kingdom but of 14 other Commonwealth nations including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Jamaica.

Journalistic media ensure that the sovereign has received a huge wave of support since he succeeded his mother to the throne.