For the time being, the corona pandemic is still considered a global health emergency. This was decided by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the advice of an independent committee of experts. "The pandemic is not over yet," emphasizes WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The state of emergency has been in effect since the end of January 2020.

The declaration of an emergency is the highest level of alert that WHO can impose. There are no special requirements associated with this. Rather, WHO uses this tool to alert governments and the public that there is an imminent threat and they need to prepare for it. The governments decide for themselves whether and which restrictions the authorities impose.

It is true that the world now has the corona pandemic much better under control with vaccines and drugs than when the new virus appeared in China at the end of 2019. Severe courses of the disease Covid-19 are rarer. But the Sars-CoV-2 virus is spreading further and with the colder season, the number of cases in Germany and many other countries is increasing again.

High number of unreported cases possible

So far, around 620 million corona infections and a good 6.5 million deaths have been reported to the WHO from all over the world. However, the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher because in many places there is little or no testing and the causes of death are not correctly recorded and reported everywhere.

The WHO declared a health emergency in July because of the increased evidence of monkeypox. There has also been a polio emergency since 2014. The official designation is Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).