Essay: COVID is officially no longer a global health emergency – here’s what that means (and what we’ve learned along the way)
SIMON NICHOLAS WILLIAMS, a lecturer in psychology at Swansea University in the UK, reflects – in an article first published on The Conversation – on what we’ve learned about human behaviour during the pandemic, and what happens next…
WHO declares end to COVID global health emergency
London, UKReuters The World Health Organization ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 on Friday more than three years after its original declaration, and said countries should now manage the virus that killed more than 6.9 million people along with other infectious diseases. The global health agency’s Emergency Committee met on Thursday and recommended the […]
Post-pandemic faith: In the US, Black Protestant church still vital despite attendance drop
LUIS ANDRES HENAO, of Associated Press, reports…
WHO experts weigh up whether world ready to end COVID emergency
London, UK Reuters A panel of global health experts will meet on Thursday to decide if COVID-19 is still an emergency under the World Health Organization’s rules, a status that helps maintain international focus on the pandemic. The WHO first gave COVID its highest level of alert on 30th January 2020, and the panel has […]
People lost faith in childhood vaccines during COVID pandemic, UNICEF says
London, UK Reuters People all over the world lost confidence in the importance of routine childhood vaccines against killer diseases like measles and polio during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from UNICEF. In 52 of the 55 countries surveyed, the public perception of vaccines for children declined between 2019 and 2021, the […]
“Era has passed” as Beijing subway drops mandatory COVID mask rule
Beijing, China Reuters Beijing’s subway has dropped mandatory mask requirements for travellers, local media reported on Sunday, days after a Chinese health expert said the threat of COVID-19 to humans is no longer at a serious level. The mask move is in line with broader measures by China, which said last week it was now […]
Finding COVID-19’s origins is a moral imperative – WHO’s Tedros
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters Discovering the origins of COVID-19 is a moral imperative and all hypotheses must be explored, the head of the World Health Organization said, in the clearest indication yet that the UN body remains committed to finding how the virus arose. A US agency was reported by the Wall Street Journal to have […]
WHO maintains highest alert over COVID, but sees hope ahead
Reuters The World Health Organization said on Monday that COVID-19 continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern, its highest form of alert. A nurse prepares a shot for Jonathan Halter as the German Embassy begins its roll out of BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for German expatriates at a Beijing United Family hospital in […]
All countries “dangerously unprepared” for future pandemics, says IFRC
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The world is “dangerously unprepared” for future pandemics, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies say in a report published on Monday, calling on countries to update their preparedness plans by year-end. In its World Disasters Report 2022, the IFRC said “all countries remain dangerously unprepared for future outbreaks” […]
Russian coronavirus-denying ex-monk sentenced to seven years
Moscow, Russia AP A former Russian Orthodox monk, who denied that the coronavirus existed and defied the Kremlin, was handed a seven-year prison sentence Friday. Nikolai Romanov, 67, who was known as Father Sergiy until his excommunication by the Russian Orthodox Church, urged his followers to disobey the Russian Government’s lockdown measures and spread conspiracy […]