WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE

STORY: WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
TRT: 7:26
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 5 MAY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST:

RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Pan right, exteriors, WHO Headquarters

5 MAY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“One thousand two hundred and twenty one days ago, WHO learned of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China.
On the 30th January 2020, on the advice of an Emergency Committee convened under the International Health Regulations, I declared a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of COVID-19 – the highest level of alarm under international law. At that time, outside China there were fewer than 100 reported cases, and no reported deaths.”
4. Wide shot, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“In the three years since then, COVID-19 has turned our world upside down.
Almost 7 million deaths have been reported to WHO, but we know the toll is several times higher – at least 20 million. Health systems have been severely disrupted, with millions of people missing out on essential health services, including lifesaving vaccinations for children.”
6. Wide shot, briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“For more than a year, the pandemic has been on a downward trend, with population immunity increasing from vaccination and infection, mortality decreasing and the pressure on health systems easing. This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before COVID-19.”
8. Med shot, briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“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. I have accepted that advice. It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency. However, that does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat.”
10. Med shot, briefing room
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Last week, COVID-19 claimed a life every three minutes – and that’s just the deaths we know about. As we speak, thousands of people around the world are fighting for their lives in intensive care units. And millions more continue to live with the debilitating effects of post-COVID-19 condition.”
11. Wide shot, briefing room
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“This virus is here to stay. It is still killing, and it is still changing. The risk remains of new variants emerging that cause new surges in cases and deaths. The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that COVID-19 is nothing to worry about. What this news means is that it is time for countries to transition from emergency mode to managing COVID-19 alongside other infectious diseases.”
13. Wide shot, briefing room
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“I emphasize that this is not a snap decision. It is a decision that has been considered carefully for some time, planned for, and made on the basis of a careful analysis of the data. If need be, I will not hesitate to convene another Emergency Committee should COVID-19 once again put our world in peril.”
15. Wide shot, briefing room
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We must promise ourselves and our children and grandchildren that we will never make those mistakes again. That’s what the pandemic accord and the amendments to the International Health Regulations that countries are now negotiating are about – a commitment to future generations that we will not go back to the old cycle of panic and neglect that left our world vulnerable, but move forward with a shared commitment to meet shared threats with a shared response.”
17. Wide shot, briefing room
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Didier Houssin, Chair, International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on COVID-19:
“Why now? Firstly, because the main criteria for such transition are now met. It is true that the virus continues to circulate in every country and that the pandemic is not over. It is true that there are many uncertainties particularly regarding the evolution of the virus. It is true also that there are big gaps in surveillance, reporting and healthcare, particularly in the most vulnerable countries. However, the situation has markedly improved with less mortality and an increased immunity against the virus. Immunity which is vaccine induced or naturally induced and better access to diagnostics, vaccines and treatment.”
19. Wide shot, briefing room
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“The battle is not over, we still have weaknesses, and those weaknesses we still have in our system will be exposed by this virus or another virus and it needs to be fixed. Our ability to prepare, the equity in our systems, our ability to innovate, the strength of our health systems are not just the strength of our public emergency response systems but the inherent strength of our health systems. Dr Tedros mentioned our EPI and immunization programmes have been weakened, access to cancer therapy has been weakened, many other parts of our health system, have been, have been threatened and have been made vulnerable, even more vulnerable by COVID.”
21. Wide shot, briefing room
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“COVID has ended as an emergency from a global perspective, but COVID is still an emergency for a family who have a loved one who contracts COVID today and needs to go to hospital, that is still an emergency, that’s an emergency for a family, it’s an emergency for a community.”
23. Wide shot, briefing room
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical Lead COVID-19, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“Epidemiologically, this virus will continue to cause waves. What we are hopeful of is that we have the tools in place to ensure that the future waves do not result in more severe disease, don’t result in waves of death and we can do that with the tools we have at hand. We just need to make sure that we are tracking the virus because it will continue to evolve.”
25. Wide shot, briefing room
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical Lead COVID-19, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“The crisis phase, the emergency phase is over, but COVID is not.”
28. Wide shot, briefing room

STORYLINE:

The head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has declared “with great hope” an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency, stressing that it does not mean the disease is no longer a global threat.

Briefing journalists in Geneva on Friday (05 May), the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, said, “One thousand two hundred and twenty one days ago, WHO learned of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China. On the 30th January 2020, on the advice of an Emergency Committee convened under the International Health Regulations, I declared a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of COVID-19 – the highest level of alarm under international law. At that time, outside China there were fewer than 100 reported cases, and no reported deaths.”

He continued, “In the three years since then, COVID-19 has turned our world upside down. Almost 7 million deaths have been reported to WHO, but we know the toll is several times higher – at least 20 million. Health systems have been severely disrupted, with millions of people missing out on essential health services, including lifesaving vaccinations for children.”

According to Tedros, “For more than a year, the pandemic has been on a downward trend, with population immunity increasing from vaccination and infection, mortality decreasing and the pressure on health systems easing. This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before COVID-19.”

The WHO Chief said, “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. I have accepted that advice. It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency. However, that does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat.”

He also stressed, “Last week, COVID-19 claimed a life every three minutes – and that’s just the deaths we know about. As we speak, thousands of people around the world are fighting for their lives in intensive care units. And millions more continue to live with the debilitating effects of post-COVID-19 condition.”

Tedros continued, “This virus is here to stay. It is still killing, and it is still changing. The risk remains of new variants emerging that cause new surges in cases and deaths. The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that COVID-19 is nothing to worry about. What this news means is that it is time for countries to transition from emergency mode to managing COVID-19 alongside other infectious diseases.”

He explained, “I emphasize that this is not a snap decision. It is a decision that has been considered carefully for some time, planned for, and made on the basis of a careful analysis of the data. If need be, I will not hesitate to convene another Emergency Committee should COVID-19 once again put our world in peril.”

Tedros concluded, “We must promise ourselves and our children and grandchildren that we will never make those mistakes again. That’s what the pandemic accord and the amendments to the International Health Regulations that countries are now negotiating are about – a commitment to future generations that we will not go back to the old cycle of panic and neglect that left our world vulnerable, but move forward with a shared commitment to meet shared threats with a shared response.”

Didier Houssin, Chair, International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on COVID-19, said, “Why now? Firstly, because the main criteria for such transition are now met. It is true that the virus continues to circulate in every country and that the pandemic is not over. It is true that there are many uncertainties particularly regarding the evolution of the virus. It is true also that there are big gaps in surveillance, reporting and healthcare, particularly in the most vulnerable countries.”

He continued, “However, the situation has markedly improved with less mortality and an increased immunity against the virus. Immunity which is vaccine induced or naturally induced and better access to diagnostics, vaccines and treatment.”

Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said, “The battle is not over, we still have weaknesses, and those weaknesses we still have in our system will be exposed by this virus or another virus and it needs to be fixed.”

He explained, “Our ability to prepare, the equity in our systems, our ability to innovate, the strength of our health systems are not just the strength of our public emergency response systems but the inherent strength of our health systems. Dr Tedros mentioned our EPI and immunization programmes have been weakened, access to cancer therapy has been weakened, many other parts of our health system, have been, have been threatened and have been made vulnerable, even more vulnerable by COVID.”

Ryan also noted, “COVID has ended as an emergency from a global perspective, but COVID is still an emergency for a family who have a loved one who contracts COVID today and needs to go to hospital, that is still an emergency, that’s an emergency for a family, it’s an emergency for a community.”

Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical Lead COVID-19, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said, “Epidemiologically, this virus will continue to cause waves. What we are hopeful of is that we have the tools in place to ensure that the future waves do not result in more severe disease, don’t result in waves of death and we can do that with the tools we have at hand.”

She stressed, “We just need to make sure that we are tracking the virus because it will continue to evolve.”

Van Kerkhove concluded, “The crisis phase, the emergency phase is over, but COVID is not.”