COVID-19 Emergency Committee highlights need for response efforts over long term

COVID-19 Emergency Committee highlights need for response efforts over long term: The Emergency Committee on COVID-19, convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), held its fourth meeting on 31 July. In its statement following the meeting, published today, it expressed “appreciation for WHO and partners’ COVID-19 pandemic response efforts, and highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this COVID-19 pandemic, noting the importance of sustained community, national, regional, and global response efforts.”  After a full discussion and review of the evidence, the Committee unanimously agreed that the outbreak still constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) and offered this advice to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.Dr Tedros accepted the advice of the Committee and confirmed that the outbreak of COVID-19 continues to constitute a PHEIC. The Director-General declared a PHEIC—WHO’s highest level of alarm under IHR—on 30 January at a time when there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside China. He issued the Committee’s advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR. “The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come,' Dr Tedros told the Committee in his opening remarks on Friday. 'Many countries that believed they were past the worst are now grappling with new outbreaks. Some that were less affected in the earliest weeks are now...