The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the global health emergency posed by Covid-19 is over – but stressed that the disease remained a ‘global health threat’.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO said today that for over a year, the Covid-19 pandemic had been ‘on a downward trend’, due to population immunity increasing from vaccination and infection, mortality decreasing and the pressure on health systems easing.

He said that over the last twelve months, WHO and the Emergency Committee convened under the International Health Regulations, ‘have been analysing the data carefully and considering when the time would be right to lower the level of alarm’.

Based on their recommendations, he today declared Covid-19 over as a global health emergency, making the statement ‘with great hope’ he said.

But he stressed that ‘that does not mean Covid-19 is over as a global health threat’, with one person dying from Covid-19 every three minutes, thousands of people around the world currently in intensive care units with the condition and ‘millions more’ suffering the effects of long Covid.

‘This virus is here to stay. It is still killing, and it’s still changing. The risk remains of new variants emerging that cause new surges in cases and deaths,’ he said.

He added that ‘the worst thing any country could do now’ would be ‘to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about’.

‘What this news means is that it is time for countries to transition from emergency mode to managing Covid-19 alongside other infectious diseases,’ added Dr Tedros.

He also celebrated the efforts of healthcare workers in helping to control the virus.

‘We have arrived at this moment thanks to the incredible skill and selfless dedication of health and care workers,’ Dr Tedros said.

And he added that ‘the suffering we have endured, the painful lessons we have learned, the investments we have made and the capacities we have built must not go to waste’.

‘We owe it to those we have lost to leverage those investments; to build on those capacities; to learn those lessons, and to transform that suffering into meaningful and lasting change,’ he added, urging ‘a commitment to future generations that we will not go back to the old cycle of panic and neglect that left our world vulnerable’.

Community pharmacies remained open during the Covid-19 pandemic, and were praised by the now King Charles for their work during the crisis for keeping vulnerable people supplied with medicines and providing ‘a friendly and reassuring presence’ during an ‘unbelievably harrowing period’.

And they have delivered over 33 million covid vaccinations and are set to dispense Covid-19 antivirals.

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said that community pharmacies played ‘a crucial role delivering accessible care to the public’ throughout the pandemic.

She said: ‘They were instrumental in getting the population vaccinated and demonstrated that they can be relied upon to provide great patient care even during the most difficult period for our healthcare system.’

But she echoed the WHO director-general’s concern that health systems should not be neglected.

‘They should be invested in and have a key role to play within primary care with appropriate funding,’ she said of community pharmacies.

Professor Claire Anderson, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) said that community pharmacy 'put patients first throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, offering the public rapid access to expert care and advice during a national crisis'

'By saving 24 million GP appointments and 3.3 million hospital walk-ins and delivering more than 22 million vaccines by vaccination sites in 2021, these figures demonstrate community pharmacy’s vital contribution in protecting the NHS from being completely overwhelmed at the height of the pandemic,' she said.

'What needs to be recognised is the hard work of pharmacists doesn’t stop here. They will continue to be integrated into Covid vaccination services going forward to ensure patients continue to be protected from the virus', she added.