International

WHO says Covid still an international emergency

Photo: Hector Retamal /AFP

| By AFP | Nina Larson

The World Health Organization said Wednesday it is too early to lift the highest-level alert for the Covid crisis, with the pandemic remaining a global health emergency despite recent progress.

The WHO’s emergency committee on Covid-19 met last week and concluded that the pandemic still constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), a status it declared back in January 2020.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Wednesday that he agreed with the committee’s advice.

“The committee emphasised the need to strengthen surveillance and expand access to tests, treatments and vaccines for those most at risk,” he said, speaking from the UN health agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

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The WHO first declared the Covid-19 outbreak a PHEIC on January 30, 2020, when, outside of China, fewer than 100 cases and no deaths had been reported.

Though it is the internationally-agreed mechanism for triggering an international response to such outbreaks, it was only in March, when Tedros described the worsening situation as a pandemic, that many countries woke up to the danger.

Since the start of the Covid pandemic, more than 622 million confirmed Covid cases have been reported to WHO and more than 6.5 million deaths, although those numbers are believed to be significant underestimates.

According to WHO’s global dashboard of the situation, 263,000 new cases were reported in the previous 24 hours, while 856 new Covid deaths had been reported in the past week.

Tedros acknowledged Wednesday that “the global situation has obviously improved since the pandemic began,” but he warned that “the virus continues to change and there remain many risks and uncertainties.”

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“The pandemic has surprised us before and very well could again,” he warned.

Surveillance has declined

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, agreed, warning that there were still “millions of cases being reported each week, but our surveillance has declined.”

This is making it difficult to get a full overview of the situation and especially of how the virus is mutating.

She stressed that “the more this virus circulates, the more opportunities it has to change.”

The Omicron variant accounts for basically all virus samples that are sequenced, with more than 300 sublineages of that variant recorded.

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“All of the subvariants of Omicron are showing increased transmissibility and properties of immune escape,” Van Kerkove said, adding that one new combination of two different subvariants was showing “significant immune evasion.”

“This is a concern for us because we need to ensure that the vaccines that are in use worldwide remain effective at preventing severe disease and death,” she said.

In light of the broad spread of new Omicron subvariants, Van Kerkhove stressed that “countries need to be in a position to conduct surveillance to deal with increases in cases and perhaps deal with increases in hospitalisations.”

“We have to remain vigilant.”

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A health worker takes a swab sample from a woman to test for the Covid-19 coronavirus in the Huangpu district of Shanghai on August 17, 2022. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)

Central America

U.S. extradites Iranian man over alleged sanctions evasion scheme

The United States has extradited from Panama an Iranian national accused of evading economic sanctions against Iran by illegally exporting U.S. technology. He is scheduled to appear this Monday before a court in Seattle.

Reza Dindar, 44, was extradited on April 17 after being detained in Panama since July 2025 on charges related to export control violations between 2011 and 2012, allegedly carried out through companies based in China.

The defendant appeared before a U.S. district court in Seattle, where he faces charges of violating sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran in 1995 during the administration of Bill Clinton. These sanctions prohibit the unauthorized export, re-export, or supply—directly or indirectly—of U.S. goods, technology, or services to Iran or its government.

According to the indictment, between 2010 and 2014, Dindar led the company New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xi’an, China, which allegedly concealed the procurement of U.S. products for shipment to clients in Iran.

International

Elon Musk skips French court appearance over X investigation

Billionaire Elon Musk did not appear this Monday before French authorities, who had summoned him for a voluntary statement as part of an investigation into his social media platform X, prosecutors told AFP.

The platform has been under investigation since early 2025 following complaints from lawmakers alleging bias in its algorithms, which may have altered its functioning and interfered in politics in France.

The probe has since expanded to include other alleged offenses, such as complicity in the distribution of child sexual abuse material, as well as the role of Grok in spreading denialist content and sexually explicit fake images.

In early February, investigators raided X’s offices in Paris. The company has denied any wrongdoing, describing the searches as “political” and “abusive.”

At that time, the Paris prosecutor’s office summoned Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino to provide voluntary testimony as those responsible for the platform during the period under investigation.

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Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau also stated that X employees were called to testify as witnesses between April 20 and April 24.

International

Four injured in shooting at Teotihuacán archaeological site in Mexico

Four more people were injured by gunfire during the ആക്രമ attack at Teotihuacán, one of the most emblematic archaeological complexes in Mexico, authorities confirmed.

The Secretary of Security of the State of Mexico, Cristóbal Castañeda, reported that the victims include two Colombian nationals, one Russian, and one Canadian. Additionally, two other individuals were injured due to falls, according to a statement from local authorities.

President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed concern over the incident, stating on social media that “what happened today in Teotihuacán deeply pains us.”

Federal authorities recovered a firearm, a knife, and ammunition at the scene, which remains under the protection of state police and the Guardia Nacional, according to the federal Security Cabinet.

Located about 50 kilometers from Mexico City, Teotihuacán is a major tourist destination frequently visited by both domestic and international travelers.