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WHO announces that the Covid public health emergency is finally over - but with caveats

THE Covid-19 pandemic is officially finally over, according to the World Health Organisation.

The director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, made the announcement after the 15th meeting of the Emergency Committee, which recommended ending the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

During the meeting, the committee highlighted the

By Walter Finch

decreasing trend in deaths and hospitalisations from Covid.

They also pointed out the high levels of population immunity against SARSCoV-2 as reasons for ending the PHEIC. The previous meeting of the committee in January had concluded that it was still not the moment to of -

Pigment breakthrough

ALICANTE doctors and scientists believe they have found a pigment in the Santa Pola salt mines that could help fight breast cancer.

The pigment is produced by certain microorganismsthe ‘halophilic archaea’ - in order to protect themselves from the sun with its anti-tumour capacity having been successfully tested in breast cancer situations.

Alicante University Biology head, Rosa Maria Martinez, called it an ‘important discovery’.

“We’ve reached a conclusion that with certain doses, the pigment causes no harmful effects on health cells, but limits the growth capacity of cancerous cells,” she said. The discovery opens the way to fighting cancer using natural compounds that cause no problems to the human body.

ficially end the pandemic. However, Tedros (above) said he would not hesitate to declare another emergency if the situation changed. Vaccines and other treatments have eliminated the risk the virus posed a few years ago, he added. Tedros also warned that despite the declaration of the end of the health emergency this year, the virus would remain a threat to global health.

Deaths

Despite the WHO’s pronouncement, there are still around 500 fatalities per day from Covid worldwide. This adds up to more than 200,000 deaths per year, according to reported cases, while the actual number may be higher.