The White House on Monday announced it wants to end the Covid-19 national emergency by May 11, though that would entail extending it first. The plan comes after House Republicans announced a vote to end the state of emergency and when the World Health Organization said public health restrictions should continue in some form. awake.
The current national emergency declaration will expire on March 1, while the public health emergency (PHE) will expire on April 11. President Joe Biden intends to “extend emergency declarations to May 11 and then end both emergencies on that date,” The Office of Management and Budget said in a statement cited by multiple outlets. PHE was last renewed on January 11.
“Too late! Republicans announced that we declared Covid over and passed the House this week,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, tweeted in response. “The GOP is leading on this and Biden is trying to give credit.”
Meanwhile, WHO published the conclusion of its emergency committee, from a meeting held on Friday, said the pandemic “continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus agreed with the committee that the pandemic “probably at a transition point” and endorse their recommendations for “alternative mechanisms to maintain global and national focus” about the disease after the emergency ends.
The Advisory Body also called on WHO and Member States “maintaining a multi-component monitoring system” and continue to promote vaccination, to the point of including it in “Lifelong vaccinations” schedule.
The Biden administration has attempted to impose sanctions, first on government employees and then on the private sector, but US courts have dismissed most of the mandates as unconstitutional. Biden campaigned in 2020 with a promise to “turn off the virus.” As of Monday, the total number of deaths in the United States from Covid-19 was 1.11 million, up from 400,000 on the eve of his inauguration in January 2021.
