Facts

The Health Secretary Steve Barclay told the NHS Confed Expo conference that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the pandemic “officially over”.

As Full Fact pointed out, this is incorrect. While the WHO did declare, on 5 May 2023,  that the pandemic is no longer a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), it did not say that the pandemic itself was over. In fact, it has been clear that it considers that pandemic “ongoing”. 

Verdict

Another false statement by Health Secretary Steve Barclay.

We emailed Steve Barclay’s parliamentary office to give him the chance to respond. He failed to do so.