JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially ended its "global health emergency" status for COVID-19. Even though the global health emergency status has ended, COVID-19 is believed to remain in the community for a long period of time.
For this reason, the Indonesian Ministry of Health has prepared long-term COVID-19 governance guidelines in order to respond to the global health emergency phase that has now ended.
"We are preparing future COVID-19 governance in accordance with the COVID-19 2023-2025 preparedness and response strategy that has been prepared by WHO as a guideline for countries in transitioning to long-term COVID-19 management," said the Head of the Communication and Public Service Bureau of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, confirmed in Jakarta, Saturday.
According to Nadia, the Indonesian government also paid attention to the results of the International Health Regulation (IHR) Emergency Public Health of International Concern (PHEIC) meeting which had been approved by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"We have also consulted with the Director General of WHO and the WHO Team both in Geneva and Jakarta for Indonesia to prepare for the pandemic transition some time ago, even before the revocation of the PHIEC status was announced yesterday," he said.
The steps taken by the government to respond to this situation, said Nadia, are to strengthen health surveillance in the community, and prepare health facilities and medicines, as well as prepare other health policies.
"This effort is important to realize national health resilience and preparedness for other future pandemics," Nadia added.
"Remember that COVID-19 is still around us, so people must remain vigilant. The elderly and patients with comorbidities still have the highest risk, so vaccination must still be carried out, including the process of using masks for sick people and crowd places," he said.
WHO stated that the spread of COVID-19 was no longer a global public health emergency.
"For more than a year, the pandemic has been in a downward trend with increased population immunity from vaccinations and infections, reduced mortality rates, and reduced health system pressure," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva, Friday (5/5).
This trend allows most countries to return to the situation before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.
"Therefore, with great hope I declare COVID-19 ending as a global health emergency," he said, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, May 6.
Nearly 7 million people have died from the virus worldwide the first time WHO declared a state of emergency on January 30, 2020.
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