The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern. 

The Emergency Committee, made up of independent experts, said in a statement that rising cases, ongoing viral evolution and pressure on health services in a number of countries meant that the situation is still an emergency.

Cases reported to WHO had risen by 30 percent in the last fortnight, the statement said, although the committee accepted that increased population immunity, largely from vaccines, had seen a "decoupling" of cases from hospitalisations and deaths.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accepted the committee's advice.

The U.N. health agency first declared the highest level of alert, known as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, for COVID-19 on January 30, 2020. Such a determination helps accelerate research, funding and international public health measures to contain a disease.

(With input from Reuters)