Brazil decrees end of COVID-19 health emergency

BRASILIA, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga signed a decree on Friday ending the COVID-19 public health emergency, effective 30 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

In its decision to lift the emergency, which has been in force since February 2020, the Health Ministry took into account the national public health system's response capacity, the improved epidemiological situation and the wide vaccination coverage against the virus, the ministry said in a statement.

"Brazil has registered an 80 percent decrease in the moving average of COVID-19 cases and deaths compared to the peak from the Omicron variant earlier this year," the statement said.

In addition, almost 74 percent of the Brazilian population are fully immunized, while 81 percent have receive a first vaccine dose and over 74 million people have been given a booster dose, the ministry said.

However, the Health Ministry emphasized the importance of the vaccination campaign, even after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. It added that immunization against COVID-19 is essential to maintain transmission control and that Brazilians must complete the vaccination schedule with both doses and a booster dose.

The South American country has registered more than 30.3 million COVID-19 cases and 662,500 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.