How will the world decide when the pandemic is over?

By MARIA CHENG
AP Medical Writer

There’s no clear-cut definition for when a pandemic starts and ends, and how much of a threat a global outbreak is posing can vary by country. In January 2020, the World Health Organization designated the coronavirus outbreak a global health crisis “of international concern.” A couple months later, WHO described it as a “pandemic,” reflecting the the spread of the virus. The pandemic may be widely considered over when WHO decides COVID-19 is no longer an emergency of international concern, a designation its experts have been reassessing. But when the acute phases of the crisis ease within countries could vary.