Three years ago, the World Health Organization declared that the mushrooming outbreak of a new coronavirus — later named SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19 — posed such a threat to global health that it merited designation as a public health emergency of international concern.
On Friday, an emergency committee will meet again to deliberate whether the time has come to recommend to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that he declare the global health emergency is over. The final decision rests with Tedros, who generally — though not always — follows the advice of WHO emergency committees.