At least seven million known dead. A global race to develop a vaccine. Offices, retail stores and other public gathering places shut down. Masks and social distancing were mandatory.

After three years, the global nightmare that is the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a public health emergency. The worst is over.

“It is … with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

With mortality rates decreasing, population immunity rising and pressure on health systems easing, these trends “allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before COVID-19," he said.

AI Business takes a look at how AI played a part in bringing the pandemic to a close as a global emergency.