United Nations, Safar 19, 1438, Nov 19, 2016, SPA -- The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Friday that the Zika virus and related neurological complications no longer constitute an international emergency, but said it was shifting to a longer-term approach against a virus that has spread across Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond. The U.N. health agency’s emergency committee, which declared a “public-health emergency of international concern” in February, said in a statement that it felt that “the Zika virus and associated consequences remain a significant enduring public-health challenge requiring intense action,” but no longer represent a global emergency. “We are not downgrading the importance of Zika. By placing this as a longer program of work, we are sending the message that Zika is here to stay,” Doctor Peter Salama, the director of WHO’s health emergencies program, told reporters in Geneva. Nearly 30 countries have reported birth defects linked to Zika, which mainly is spread by mosquitoes. In contrast to the WHO declaration, Brazil—the epicenter of the outbreak, with more than 2,100 cases of nervous-system malformations—said Friday it will continue to treat Zika as an emergency. --SPA 13:27 LOCAL TIME 10:27 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w272355