The public health emergency declared in the US in response to Covid-19 has come to an end more than three years after the pandemic began. The Biden administration made the decision to end the emergency as deaths and hospitalizations have declined dramatically due to the availability of vaccines and antiviral treatments, as well as widespread exposure to the virus. Public health experts warn that the U.S. is likely to see a steady rate of hospitalizations and deaths for many years to come. The World Health Organization declared an end to the global Covid emergency, but WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned national governments against dismantling the systems they built to respond to the virus, as the risk remains of new variants emerging that cause new surges in cases and deaths.