US ends Covid-19 public emergency, drops air travel vaccine mandates

The US Covid-19 public health emergency came to an end on Thursday, marking a major transition in the country's fight against the global pandemic.

Then US health and human services secretary Alex Azar announced the public health emergency in January 2020 to implement temporary measures and allocate resources to better contain the pandemic.

Along with the emergency’s end, the Joe Biden administration also ended the Covid-19 vaccine requirements for federal employees, federal contractors, and international air travellers, reported Xinhua.

Since taking office in 2021, Biden has repeatedly extended the emergency.

The Biden administration's decision to end the emergency comes as Covid-19 deaths and hospitalisations have declined dramatically due to the availability of vaccines, antiviral treatments and widespread exposure to the virus.

The pandemic claimed at least 6 million hospitalisations, and 1.1 million deaths in the United States, according to data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The end of the emergency will bring significant changes in how the country responds to the virus. The CDC will scale back its efforts to track the virus. Most tools, like vaccines, treatments and testing, will remain available, but some tools, like certain data sources and reporting, will change.

While public health experts agree the country has many more tools to fight Covid-19 today, they warn the virus will remain a persistent threat to the nation's battered healthcare system.

- Bernama