The Department of Health in the Philippines is hopeful that the COVID-19 pandemic and the Mpox outbreak will no longer be declared as public health emergencies in 2023.
Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH’s officer-in-charge, stated in an ABS-CBN interview that her office is optimistic that the emergency status will be lifted following the meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“We still need to be very cautious. Titingnan natin kung makita nating patuloy na bumababa ang critical at namamatay,” said Vergeire
The WHO is planning to end the public health emergency status of COVID-19 next year and has urged China to share more information on when the pandemic actually started.
“We have alot of other illnesses like trangkaso, influenza. Flu is prevalent now because of change of weather,” she said.
The global health body has stated that the virus will be here to stay, but will need to be managed alongside other respiratory illnesses. WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference: “Last week, less than 10,000 people lost their lives. That’s still 10,000 too many and there is still a lot that all countries can do to save lives. But we have come a long way. We are hopeful that at some point next year, we will be able to say that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency.”
However, he added that the rate of deaths remains high, despite the lower number of deaths last week.
The WHO’s emergency committee is set to advise Tedros on whether COVID-19 will remain a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) at a meeting to be held by the end of January. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, stated that these deaths are largely happening among people who are not vaccinated or have not received their full course of jabs.
