Most of you will have seen that on the advice of the relevant Emergency Committee, WHO’s Director-General announced the end of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern status of COVI19, moving it instead to the status of an ongoing health threat, with a plan to develop standing recommendations which are more enduring. Here’s the committee statement:
The key headline sentence is:
The WHO Director-General concurs with the advice offered by the Committee ….. determines that COVID-19 is now an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
It was mentioned in the last update that Marburg appears to be under control in Tanzania, however it was announced subsequently that a previously infected 18-month-old child died of Marburg virus disease.
Uruguay is having its first ever outbreak of chikungunya (mosquito borne febrile illness somewhat similar to dengue), reflecting the growing global spread of vector-borne disease. Spread is expected to continue elsewhere in the Americas. On the same point, GAVI estimates that half of the world’s population is now at risk of dengue fever https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/global-warming-means-one-two-us-are-now-risk-dengue
There are measles outbreaks in such diverse locations as South Africa, American Samoa, Russia, Turkey and Ethiopia. In UK also, measles numbers for the first 4 months of 2023 already are more than for all of last year. Vaccination levels are clearly a factor.
Other items described in this week’s roundup include ongoing outbreaks of diphtheria in both Nigeria and the Philippines. Again the question of vaccination is relevant.
On COVID-19 variants, XBB.1.5 has been downgraded (now down to a third of new sequences) leaving XBB.1.9 (both subvariants XBB.1.9.1 and XBB.1.9.2) and XBB.1.16 are the leading mutations, steadily increasing as a proportion of new sequences. They are causing surges in numbers in Asia including Japan, South Korea and Malaysia (Airfinity).
Finally a reminder about the Aviation Health Conference in September 2023 in London UK. The draft programme will be posted soon. https://quaynote.com/conference/aviation-health-conference-2023/
David Powell
IATA Medical Advisor