On 2020-01-30, the World Health Organization announced a Public Health Emergency of International Concern regarding the COVID-19 in China. They declared that the outbreak had become a pandemic on 2021-03-11 . The declarations are typically renewed every 3 months as the WHO gives updated information on the severity of the outbreak, medical information, and policy recommendations. The WHO has renewed the PHEIC every 3 months since 2020-01-30, most recently on 2021-07-14.

The world is struggling to ask the nebulous question, "When will the pandemic end?" For some, it already has; from other points of view ("When will COVID-19 be eradicated?") it may never end. But we don't have to bother with defining the "end" of the pandemic-- that's the WHO's job.