The World Health Organisation has declared that Covid-19 is still a global health emergency. It isn’t of course and never was, but as we’re now mid-way through Autumn, it comes as no surprise that the WHO is ramping up the fear porn.
They’re priming us to accept restrictions over the Winter. Indeed, in Ireland, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has urged the public to wear masks on public transport although he stressed that it isn’t mandatory.
Give it a few weeks. According to Irish state broadcaster RTÉ:
The World Health Organization has said that Covid-19 remains a global emergency, nearly three years after it was first declared as one.
The WHO’s emergency committee first made the declaration for Covid-19 on 30 January, 2020.
Such a determination can help accelerate research, funding and international public health measures to contain a disease.
The UN agency has said in recent months that while cases are falling in parts of the world, countries still need to maintain their vigilance and push to get their most vulnerable populations vaccinated.
“Although the public perception is that the pandemic is over in some parts of the world, it remains a public health event that continues to adversely and strongly affect the health of the world’s population,” the WHO’s committee said.
It noted that even though the number of weekly deaths are the lowest since the pandemic began, they still remain high compared to other viruses.
“This pandemic has surprised us before and very well may again,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
The WHO also said it is tracking more than 300 Omicron sub-variants, but limited surveillance is challenging the assessment of their impact.
300 omicron sub-variants? PMSL! That’s pissing myself laughing for the uninitiated.
It’s no laughing matter though, is it?
Winter is coming. It’s gonna get rough.
