Zika no longer a global emergency, says World Health Organization

The World Health Organisation announced on Friday that the Zika virus outbreak, linked with deformation in heads' and brains of babies, can't be considered a world public health emergency any more.

"The Zika virus remains a highly significant and long term problem, but it is not any more a public heath emergency of international concern," the world health body's emergency committee chair Dr David Heymann said.

Although Zika causes only mild symptoms in various people, pregnant women with the virus can give birth to babies who suffer from microcephaly - a severe deformation that in turn leads to small heads and severely underdeveloped brains..

According to WHO, the outbreak which began in 2015 has infected more than 1.5 million people all over the globe.