The World Health Organization said Covid-19 remains a global emergency, nearly two-and-a-half years after it was first declared.

The Emergency Committee, made up of independent experts, said in a statement yesterday that rising cases, ongoing viral evolution, and pressure on health services in a number of countries meant that the situation was still an emergency.

Cases reported to WHO had risen by 30 percent in the last fortnight, the statement said, although the committee accepted that increased population immunity, largely from vaccines, had seen a "decoupling" of cases from hospitalisations and deaths.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accepted the committee's advice.

The UN health agency first declared the highest level of alert, known as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, for Covid-19 on Jan 30, 2020.

Such a determination can help accelerate research, funding, and international public health measures to contain diseases.

- Reuters