On Wednesday, the World Health Organization stated that COVID-19 is still a global emergency, nearly three years after the first declaration.

The emergency committee issued its first declaration on January 30, 2020, to expedite research, funding, and international public health measures to contain the disease.

In recent months, the UN agency stated that although the public perception is that the pandemic is over in some parts of the world, it remains a public health event that continues to affect the health of the world’s population adversely and strongly. The agency urged the countries to maintain their vigilance against infection and asked them to get their most vulnerable populations vaccinated.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO, added that even though the number of weekly deaths is the lowest since the pandemic began, they remain high compared to other viruses.