Óscar Zurriaga
Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Valencia and outgoing president of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE).
The Emergency Committee of the World Health Organisation (WHO) meets once a quarter, so this is, in principle, a regular meeting. At its previous meeting, this committee discussed whether or not to maintain the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Importance (PHEIC). In other words, this is not a meeting, a priori, for this single issue, nor is it the first time it has been addressed.
The current situation of covid-19, both in Spain and in other countries, means that the lifting of the declaration of a PHEIC by the WHO Emergency Committee should not affect the actions and policies that are currently being carried out in the different countries.
However, this does not mean that neither the SARS-Cov2 virus nor the disease have been eliminated. It is therefore advisable to inform the public that the disease is still present and that, in certain circumstances (e.g. when there are symptoms or when in contact with particularly vulnerable people), precautionary measures must continue to be taken to prevent transmission, especially to vulnerable people.
The acute respiratory infection surveillance system (SIVIRA) currently in place in Spain will continue to monitor the situation of this virus and the disease it causes, as it does for other respiratory viruses.
In summary: it is not a problem to remove the declaration of PHEIC, but this should not contribute to the impression that the disease caused by this virus no longer exists.