(VOVWORLD) -March 11th marks three years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19, a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a global pandemic. After three years a new normalcy has been established thanks to national and global pandemic control efforts. The fierce COVID-19 waves have passed, but the WHO still maintains the highest level of warning globally to minimize further deaths and sufferings.
 People waited for COVID-19 test in Seoul, South Korea, March 10, 2020. (Photo: VNA) |
The COVID-19 pandemic broke out in December 2019 in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. Never before had a virus spread as quickly as the SARS-CoV-2 virus. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
At that time, the virus had already spread to 120 countries and territories, infected more than 121,000 people, and killed 4,300 people. Just one year later the global numbers had increased to more than 181.7 million infections and 2.6 million deaths. In 3 years COVID-19 reached 221 countries and territories causing 642 million infections and 6.6 million deaths.
Fierce waves
The virus mutated quickly spanning more dangerous variants – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron, and dozens of others. The later variants were better dodging all the vaccines, leading to a soaring infection rate.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus caused heavy losses around the world, tragic deaths as well as disruptions to global supply chains and logistics, energy shortages, and price hikes.
The world's gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 5.2% in 2020 due to border closures to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The public debt of low-income countries increased 12% to a total of 860 billion USD. COVID-19 widened the gap between the rich and the poor and set back the progress of developing countries.
 The WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. (photo: Reuters) |
Global efforts to fight the pandemic
In the second pandemic year, SARS-CoV-2 variants forced countries to change preventive methods. New types of vaccines and drugs marked a milestone in the fight against the pandemic. Rapid vaccination campaigns resulted in fewer severe cases and fewer deaths.
Thanks to efforts to strengthen international cooperation and multilateralism in responding to the pandemic, many new mechanisms were established to help distribute billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries. Plans to set up a pandemic response fund as well as an agreement to ensure funding and flexibility for the WHO took shape. The results strengthened the determination of countries to consider COVID-19 no longer a pandemic but an endemic disease, which meant shift to safe coexistence, controlling new outbreaks, reopening the economy, and restoring normal life.
2022 was a year of revival of the global economy, whose total value surpassed 100 trillion USD for the first time. The International Monetary Fund said global economic growth in 2022 was 4.9% and global trade returned to normal.
The COVID-19 pandemic proved that it’s impossible for a single country to combat a global pandemic alone. That means building global solidarity is preparing to give every country a chance against the epidemic. The WHO says it’s unlikely that COVID-19 will be completely eliminated soon. But cooperation and greater efforts are the way to mitigate the pandemic and lead the world out of this tragic period.