The world’s lived experience with pandemics has conferred it with the certitude that epidemics wane to die down, or transform into seasonal outbreaks; COVID-19 is no exception. The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, last week declared, on the basis of advice from the emergency committee (comprising independent experts), that the COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. After over three years, he was reading down an emergency that he first announced on January 30, 2020, forced by a rapidly spreading infection that moved from China to 20 other nations across the world. Dr. Tedros notably invoked hope when he declared that COVID-19 was over as a global health emergency, but followed it up with a rider: it did not mean COVID-19 was no longer a global health threat. Over the months leading up to the announcement, various experts with WHO were laying the ground, urging that it was time to treat COVID quite like seasonal influenza. For a world fatigued by great loss, human and otherwise, caused by the COVID pandemic, and exhaustively on guard, the DG’s announcement brought a collective sigh of relief.
However, the task now for WHO and nations is to ensure that this announcement is not selectively received, to prevent the world from slipping into a torpor of complacence. For, COVID is not over — multiple variants and sub variants continue to emerge regularly, and it has not yet settled into a seasonal pattern that one can read, or prevent. At any point of time, it is possible that a new variant, or recombinant may lead to rapid transmission and cause severe disease, resulting in hospitalisations and even higher mortality rates. As global health experts continue to insist: for health systems, eternal vigilance is essential, to maintain a level of care and periodically test their capacity to respond to epidemic situations. The impressive network of INSACOG laboratories capable of genetic sequencing and even routine health infrastructure built up during the COVID years must be utilised well. It is also important to not take the foot off the pedal in terms of research and development into vaccine platforms, drug delivery systems, anti virals, and antibiotics. This will enable nations to be prepared and on guard not just for COVID-19 but also other emerging infections. At a personal level, individuals will benefit from following the hygiene and precautions that became a habit during the COVID years, particularly adhering to the vaccination schedule, and following hand hygiene and masking under certain circumstances.