The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least seven-million people worldwide.
The W-H-O first declared COVID-19 to be an emergency more than three years ago.
The U-N health agency's officials said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn't come to an end, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The W-H-O says that thousands of people are still dying from the virus every week.
W-H-O Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says ``It's with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency.''
He says that does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat, adding he wouldn't hesitate to reconvene experts to reassess the situation should COVID-19 ``put our world in peril.''
Tedros says the pandemic had been on a downward trend for more than a year, acknowledging that most countries have already returned to life before COVID-19.
He bemoaned the damage that COVID-19 had done to the global community, saying the virus had shattered businesses, exacerbated political divisions and plunged millions into poverty.
Tedros also noted that there were likely at least 20-million COVID-19 deaths -- far more than the officially reported seven- million.
He says ``COVID has changed our world and it has changed us,'' warning that the risk of new variants still remain.