WHO meeting to decide on COVID emergency set for Jan. 27

[January 10, 2023]  GENEVA (Reuters) - A World Health Organization committee will meet on Jan. 27 to consider whether the COVID-19 pandemic still represents a global emergency, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, three years after it was first declared.

WHO spokesperson Carla Drysdale confirmed the timing of the meeting at a Geneva press briefing. The Emergency Committee advises WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who makes the ultimate call on whether an outbreak represents a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern which is the U.N. agency's highest level of alert.

The World Health Organization logo is pictured at the entrance of the WHO building, in Geneva, Switzerland, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Several leading scientists and WHO advisers say it may be too early to declare the end of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency phase because of high levels of infections in China which dismantled its zero-COVID policy last month.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Madeline Chambers)

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