The World Health Organization (WHO) committee will meet on 27 January to decide whether the coronavirus pandemic still represents an emergency on a global level or not, three years after it was declared a public health emergency.
According to the reports, several leading scientists and advisers to the WHO have said that it may be too early to declare the end of the Covid-19 pandemic emergency phase. Meanwhile, countries should consider recommending passengers wear masks on long-haul flights to counter the latest Omicron subvariant of Covid-19 given its rapid spread in the US.
XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible Omicron subvariant that has been detected so far. The variant is responsible for 27.6 per cent of Covid-19 cases in the US.
It remains unclear if XBB.1.5 will cause its own wave of infections around the world.
