据美联社31日报道，美国总统拜登1月30日告知美国国会，鉴于世界上大部分地区在疫情三年后已“接近正常状态”，他将于5月11日宣布美国结束新冠国家紧急状态和公共卫生紧急状态。

US President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared.

美联社报道称，针对新冠疫情的“国家紧急状态”和“公共卫生紧急状态”结束之后，美国联邦层面的新冠应对措施将进行调整，新冠病毒将被视为“地方性”公共卫生威胁（endemic threat），各机构可在常态的权限（normal authorities）内对疫情进行管理。

The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.

美联社报道称，拜登此项声明反对了由众议院共和党人于本周提出的“立即结束紧急情况”的决议。除此之外，众议院的共和党人还准备对联邦政府的新冠应对情况展开调查。

Biden’s announcement comes in a statement opposing resolutions being brought to the floor this week by House Republicans to bring the emergency to an immediate end. House Republicans are also gearing up to launch investigations on the federal government’s response to COVID-19.

此前，2020年1月13日，特朗普政府的美国前卫生与公众服务部长亚历克斯·阿扎（Alex Azar）首次宣布美国进入公共卫生紧急状态，时任美国总统特朗普后于当年3月宣布美国进入国家紧急状态。拜登自2021年1月上任以来，一再延长紧急状态。白宫表示，拜登计划将紧急状态短暂延长至5月11日为止。
 

 

Then-President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar first declared a public health emergency on Jan. 31, 2020, and Trump later declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency that March. The emergencies have been repeatedly extended by Biden since he took office in January 2021, and are set to expire in the coming months. The White House said Biden plans to extend them both briefly to end on May 11.

美国行政管理和预算局在一份声明中指出：“突然宣布结束紧急状态将给整个医疗保健系统带来普遍的混乱和不确定性，将影响各州、医院和医生办公室，最重要的是，影响到数千万美国人。”

“An abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system — for states, for hospitals and doctors’ offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans,” the Office of Management and Budget wrote in a Statement of Administration Policy.

据美联社报道，根据美国疾病控制和预防中心（CDC）的数据，自2020年以来，美国已有超过110万人死于新冠，上周死于新冠的人数约为3700人。

More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 since 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including about 3,700 last week.

世卫组织：新冠疫情仍是“国际关注的突发公共卫生事件”

1月30日，世界卫生组织（WHO）发表声明说，尽管新冠大流行可能正接近转折点，但目前仍构成“国际关注的突发公共卫生事件（Public Health Emergency of International Concern）”。

据新华社报道，世卫组织紧急委员会于27日召开了新冠疫情例行季度评估会议。世卫组织在声明中说，委员会已向总干事谭德塞就当前疫情形势及未来防控提出一系列建议，总干事采纳建议并于当天宣布，新冠疫情仍构成“国际关注的突发公共卫生事件”。这是世卫组织依照《国际卫生条例》所能发布的最高级别预警。

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the WHO's highest alert level.

After its quarterly assessment meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday, the WHO's International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee announced on Monday that COVID-19 continues to constitute a PHEIC, which has been concurred by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

 

 

委员会成员对新冠带来的持续风险表示关切，因为与其他呼吸道传染病相比，新冠导致的死亡人数仍然很高，且中低收入国家以及全球高风险群体的疫苗覆盖率仍显不足，在是否会出现新变种病毒方面仍有不确定性。

委员会表示，新冠大流行可能正接近转折点，但新冠仍是一种危险的传染病，能对人类健康和各国卫生系统造成重大损害。尽管感染新冠或接种疫苗可能有助于在全球范围内实现更高的群体免疫水平并限制发病率和死亡率带来的影响，但在可预见的未来，新冠病毒仍将是一种在人类和动物中长久存在的病原体。

COVID-19 remains a dangerous infectious disease with the capacity to cause substantial damage to health systems, the committee said in a statement, while acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic may be approaching an inflection point.

Although infection or vaccination may lead to higher levels of population immunity globally and limit the impact of morbidity and mortality, "there is little doubt that this virus will remain a permanently established pathogen in humans and animals for the foreseeable future," the committee said.

委员会呼吁采取长期公共卫生行动，优先降低新冠发病率和死亡率。

It then called for long-term public health action that will prioritize the mitigation of COVID-19 impact on morbidity and mortality.

综合来源：新华社，美联社，世卫组织网站