According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the corona pandemic remains an "emergency of international concern"

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WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / dpa

The "epidemic emergency of national scope" in Germany is expected to expire at the end of November.

At the moment, federal and state politicians are arguing about the basis on which protective measures should be possible in the future.

For the World Health Organization (WHO), however, it is clear: the pandemic remains an »emergency of international concern« (PHEIC).

This was decided by WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday on the recommendation of the independent emergency committee, which meets every three months to reassess the situation.

When declaring an emergency situation, there are, among other things, special reporting obligations on the part of the member states.

"An analysis of the current situation and forecast models suggest that the pandemic is far from over," said the committee.

Countries should continue to apply protective measures

He called on all countries to continue to apply all protective measures.

The pandemic has an impact on humanitarian operations, mass migration, population shifts and other crises.

Countries should prepare to adapt and adjust their aid budgets.

He appealed to countries to support WHO's goal of having 40 percent of residents in every country in the world vaccinated against the virus by the end of the year.

So far, this has failed because not enough vaccines are available for many countries, especially in Africa.

The committee called on countries with good vaccine supplies to dispense vaccine doses.

The committee also appealed to all countries to recognize all six vaccines that the WHO classifies as safe and effective and that have received emergency approval, including when requesting proof of vaccination, for example when traveling.

So far, there have been WHO emergency approvals for the corona vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sinovac.

The committee had recommended declaring an international emergency due to the new Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus at the end of January 2020.

This is the highest alarm signal that the WHO can give.

There is no formal statement as to whether or not a health situation is a pandemic.

WHO chief Tedros described the corona development as a pandemic for the first time on March 11, 2020.

Shortly afterwards, Germany too declared an "epidemic emergency of national importance".

mfh / dpa