It has been confirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that coronavirus is no longer considered as a global health emergency.
The announcement today, May 5, marks the official end to the emergency coronavirus pandemic that first began in March 2020.
WHO have said that although the emergency phase is now over, the pandemic has not ended, as there have been recent spikes in the Middle East and south-east Asia.
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According to STV News, the UN health agency has said that thousands of people are still dying due to the virus every week.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “It’s with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency.
“That does not mean Covid-19 is over as a global health threat.”
Over three years since the pandemic began, coronavirus has caused an estimated 764 million cases across the world.
Approximately five billion people have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
When Dr Tedros confirmed that Covid-19 was an emergency back in 2020, he said that his greatest fear was the potential for the virus to spread in countries with weaker health systems - which he described as "ill-prepared".
The WHO made its decision to lower its highest level of alert on Friday, after convening an expert group on Thursday.
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