Several countries in Asia have begun removing all COVID-19 curbs and treating the virus like a seasonal flu, signifying a shift into the endemic phase three years after its initial outbreak in 2020.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the COVID-19 global health emergency on May 5, citing a downward trend of the deadly pandemic for more than a year.
According to the WHO, about 17,000 people died across the world from the virus in the 28 days ending on April 30, down from some 374,000 in the 28 days ending on Feb. 7, 2021.
“This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before COVID-19,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing in Geneva….