Public health experts at the World Health Organization have begun discussing how and when to call an end to the global COVID-19 crisis, exploring what would be an important milestone more than two years after the emergence of the virus.
The WHO said it isn’t currently considering such a declaration. While cases have fallen in many places, fatalities have spiked in Hong Kong, and this week China reported more than 1,000 new daily cases for the first time in two years.
Instead, the discussions at the Geneva-based agency are focusing on what conditions would eventually signal that the public health emergency declared on Jan. 30, 2020, is over. Such a declaration would be not just a meaningful symbolic step, and would add momentum to the rollback of many pandemic-era public health policies.