WHO maintains COVID-19 as an international emergency

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has decided to maintain the COVID-19 pandemic as an international emergency.

The Emergency Committee, made up of independent experts, acknowledged that the increase in the number of cases is no longer usually accompanied by increases in deaths and pressure on health systems thanks to greater population immunity. However, it unanimously agreed that the pandemic still meets the criteria of an extraordinary event and that "the emergence and international spread of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 may present an even greater health impact".

The omicron subvariants, such as BA.4 and BA.5, continue to cause waves of cases, hospitalisations and deaths worldwide.

The Committee notes that surveillance - including testing and sequencing - has been greatly reduced, making it increasingly difficult to assess the impact of variants on transmission, disease characteristics and the effectiveness of countermeasures.

In addition, diagnostics, treatments and vaccines are not being effectively deployed.

Finally, experts stress that there is a major disconnect in the perception of COVID-19 risk between scientific communities, political leaders and the general public.

"The new waves of the virus demonstrate that COVID-19 is far from over. As the virus pushes on, we have to fight back," World Health Organisation director Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus told a news conference.

Cases reported to WHO have risen by 30% in the past fortnight.

Dr Tedros urged governments to regularly review and adjust their COVID-19 response plans based on epidemiology and also the possibility of new variants emerging.

"Governments must also work to reverse the decline in surveillance, testing and sequencing, and share antivirals effectively," as well as continue to "seek out the unvaccinated to build the wall of immunity towards the 70% vaccination target."

Next week, the Emergency Committee will meet to assess whether to declare a high health alert for monkeypox, after deciding not to do so on 25 June. Cases now number 9,200 in 63 countries.

"I re-emphasise that we must work to stop transmission and to advise governments to put contact tracing in place to help stop the virus, as well as to help people in isolation," he added.

Meanwhile, WHO continues to work with civil society and the LGBTIQ+ community to address the stigma surrounding the virus and to disseminate information so that people can keep themselves safe.

It is also coordinating with countries and manufacturers to share vaccines, which are currently in short supply.

The WHO released a report on Tuesday that points to the need to accelerate trials of antimicrobial resistance-related vaccines that are in the late stages of development. Although 61 vaccine candidates exist, "most will not be available soon," the analysis says.

"The silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance is a growing public health problem," the report notes. These infections are associated with nearly 4.95 million deaths per year, of which 1.27 million are directly attributed to resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and become unresponsive to drugs.

Vaccines can prevent infections and therefore have the potential to stop the spread.

The analysis identifies 61 vaccine candidates at various stages of clinical development, including several late-stage candidates to tackle diseases on the priority pathogen list. The report says these late-stage candidates have high development feasibility, although it warns that most will not be available soon.

"Preventing infections through vaccination reduces antibiotic use, which is a major driver of antimicrobial resistance. Yet of the six major bacterial pathogens responsible for deaths due to resistance, only one, pneumococcal disease (Streptococcus pneumoniae), has a vaccine," explained Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO assistant director-general for antimicrobial resistance. "Affordable and equitable access to vaccines such as pneumococcal vaccines is urgently needed to mitigate the rise of antimicrobial resistance," he added.

The report calls for equitable and global access to vaccines that already exist, especially among populations most in need in resource-limited settings. It also aims to guide investment and research into viable vaccines.