The covid has changed the world and us
Después de más de tres años, la Organización Mundial de la Salud levantó formalmente el 5 de mayo de 2023 la declaración de emergencia sanitaria internacional por COVID-19, un gesto procedimental que no equivale a proclamar el fin de la pandemia. El director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reconoció el peso de lo vivido: 765 millones de diagnósticos, 20 millones de muertes y un mundo transformado en sus estructuras económicas, sociales y humanas. Lo que cambia no es la presencia del virus, sino el instrumento formal con el que la humanidad lo vigila y enfrenta. La OMS llama ahora a los países a convertir este umbral en una oportunidad para construir sistemas de salud más resilientes ante las pandemias que inevitablemente vendrán.
- Tras 39 meses bajo alerta máxima, la OMS retiró la declaración de emergencia internacional, marcando un giro simbólico y administrativo de enorme peso.
- El virus, sin embargo, no ha desaparecido: sigue causando muertes e ingresos en cuidados intensivos, y la OMS advierte que bajar la guardia sería un error.
- La pandemia dejó una herida profunda y múltiple: 20 millones de muertos, billones perdidos en la economía global, escuelas cerradas, fronteras selladas y millones empujados a la pobreza.
- El levantamiento de la emergencia no es una victoria sino una recalibración: cambian los mecanismos de seguimiento, no la amenaza subyacente.
- La OMS exige a los gobiernos que aprovechen este momento para fortalecer sus sistemas sanitarios y prepararse para las próximas crisis globales de salud.
El 5 de mayo de 2023, la Organización Mundial de la Salud puso fin formalmente a la declaración de emergencia sanitaria internacional por COVID-19, más de tres años después de haberla activado el 11 de marzo de 2020. El paso fue procedimental: cambia la forma en que la OMS gestiona la vigilancia y evalúa los riesgos de expansión internacional, pero no equivale a declarar que la pandemia ha terminado.
El director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reconoció la magnitud de lo vivido. Setecientos sesenta y cinco millones de diagnósticos confirmados, 20 millones de vidas perdidas, billones de dólares evaporados de la economía mundial. Pero la devastación fue también invisible: fronteras cerradas, negocios destruidos, millones arrastrados a la pobreza, escuelas clausuradas, y una ola de soledad, ansiedad y depresión cuyas consecuencias plenas aún no se comprenden del todo. "El covid ha cambiado el mundo y nos ha cambiado a nosotros", afirmó Ghebreyesus. "Ha sido mucho más que una crisis sanitaria."
La OMS fue cuidadosa en trazar la distinción: levantar la emergencia no es declarar la victoria. El virus sigue activo, sigue matando, sigue llenando unidades de cuidados intensivos. Lo que ha cambiado es el mecanismo formal de respuesta, no la amenaza en sí. La organización instó a los países a no relajarse, sino a usar este momento de transición para reforzar sus sistemas de salud y prepararse para las pandemias que, inevitablemente, llegarán.
On Friday, May 5th, 2023, the World Health Organization formally ended the international health emergency declaration it had issued more than three years earlier. The decision marked a procedural turning point in how the world's leading health authority would manage the disease going forward—but it did not mean the pandemic itself was over.
The WHO had first sounded the alarm on March 11th, 2020. For thirty-nine months, that emergency status shaped how governments, hospitals, and public health agencies responded to COVID-19. Now, with the declaration lifted, the organization would shift to different tools for monitoring the disease and assessing risks of international spread. The move was designed to streamline decision-making, not to declare victory.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director general, acknowledged the scale of what the world had endured. The pandemic had produced 765 million confirmed diagnoses and claimed 20 million lives by the WHO's count. But the toll extended far beyond those numbers. Trillions of dollars had vanished from global economic output. Borders had closed. Travel and commerce had seized up. Businesses had shuttered. Millions had fallen into poverty. Schools had locked their doors. People had experienced waves of loneliness, isolation, anxiety, and depression that would take years to fully understand.
"The covid has changed the world and us," Ghebreyesus said. "It has been far more than a health crisis." The statement carried the weight of three years of disruption—the kind that reshapes how societies function, how people relate to one another, how economies are structured.
Yet the WHO was careful to distinguish between ending an emergency declaration and ending a disease. COVID-19 remained active. It was still a new illness in many ways, still generating questions that science had not fully answered. The virus continued to kill people. It continued to send patients into intensive care units. The organization urged countries not to lower their guard, but rather to use this moment to strengthen their health systems against future pandemics.
The end of the emergency status was less a finish line than a recalibration. The disease had not disappeared. The threat had not vanished. What had changed was the formal mechanism through which the world's health authorities would track it, respond to it, and prepare for what might come next. Countries now had an opportunity—and, the WHO suggested, an obligation—to build better defenses for the pandemics that would inevitably arrive.
Notable Quotes
The covid has changed the world and us. It has been far more than a health crisis. It has caused severe economic disruption, erasing trillions from global GDP, disrupting travel and commerce, closing businesses, and pushing millions into poverty.— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why end the emergency declaration now, if the disease is still circulating and killing people?
Because an emergency declaration is a tool with a specific purpose—it's meant to mobilize rapid, extraordinary action. After three years, that acute crisis mode becomes less useful. The WHO is saying the disease is manageable within normal public health structures now, even if it's still serious.
But doesn't ending the declaration send a signal that people can stop worrying?
That's the risk, yes. The WHO is trying to thread a needle—they want to say the acute emergency is over without people thinking the disease is gone. It's a technical distinction that doesn't always land clearly in the public mind.
What about the countries that are still struggling with COVID cases?
They don't disappear from the picture. The WHO is still monitoring, still coordinating. The declaration ending just means the decision-making process becomes less emergency-driven and more routine. But routine doesn't mean abandoned.
So this is really about giving countries permission to rebuild?
Partly. The WHO is explicitly saying countries should use this moment to strengthen their health systems. It's an acknowledgment that we can't stay in crisis mode forever, and that preparing for the next pandemic is now the priority.
What happens if COVID surges again?
The WHO can reimpose the emergency declaration if needed. But the real message is that the world needs to learn to live with this disease while also building better defenses for whatever comes next.