WHO declares COVID pandemic no longer a global emergency

GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least 7 million people worldwide.

WHO first declared COVID-19 to be an emergency more than three years ago. The U.N. health agency’s officials said that even though the emergency phase…