"Current variants of the COVID-19 virus, as a rule, cause less severe disease, while the level of immunity is higher due to vaccination, which leads to a reduction in the risk of serious illness and death for most patients," the organization explained. Updated WHO recommendations for the treatment of the disease include "new estimates of the initial risk of hospitalization of patients with mild COVID-19." This will help medical professionals "identify people with a high, medium or low risk of hospitalization" and prescribe appropriate treatment, reports TASS.

The category of moderate risk now includes people who were previously a high-risk group, including those over 65 years old, as well as people with "chronic diseases, disabilities and concomitant chronic diseases," the report says. We are talking about obesity, diabetes, as well as chronic diseases, including kidney, liver, and cancer. The estimated hospitalization rate for patients in this group is 3%.

People with weakened immune systems "remain at higher risk if they become infected with COVID-19," the WHO noted. The estimated hospitalization rate is 6%. "Those who do not belong to the categories of high or moderate risk have a low risk of hospitalization (0.5%). Most people belong to the low-risk group," the organization stated, adding that WHO "continues to strongly recommend" the drugs nirmatrelvir and ritonavir to people with high and moderate risk of hospitalization.

The covid emergency regime was in effect in world health from the end of January 2020 to May 5, 2023. On March 11, 2020, WHO described the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. As of November 8, 2023, published on the organization's website, 771,820,937 cases of coronavirus infection and 6,978,175 deaths were registered worldwide. WHO Director-General Tedros Adanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva on May 5 that the true number of deaths is at least 20 million people.