The US national emergency to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic has ended with the stroke of a pen by President Joe Biden, who signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring measure to a close after three years – and just weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency.

The national emergency allowed the government to take sweeping steps to respond to the virus and support the country’s economic, health, welfare (and travel) systems. Some of the emergency measures have already been successfully wound down, while others are still being phased out. The public health emergency, which underpins tough immigration restrictions at the US-Mexico border, is set to expire on May 11.

The White House issued a one-line statement Monday saying Biden had signed the measure behind closed doors, after having publicly opposed the resolution though not to the point of issuing a veto. More than 197 Democrats in the House voted against it when the GOP-controlled chamber passed it in February. Last month, as the measure passed the Senate by a 68-23 vote, Biden let lawmakers know he would sign it.

The administration said once it became clear that Congress was moving to speed up the end of the national emergency it worked to expedite agency preparations for a return to normal procedures.

Legislators last year did extend for another two years telehealth flexibilities that were introduced as COVID-19 hit, leading health care systems around the country to regularly deliver care by smartphone or computer.

More than 1.13 million people in the US have died from COVID-19 over the last three years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 1,773 people in the week ending April 5.

Then-President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar first declared a public health emergency on Jan. 31, 2020, and Trump declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency that March. The emergencies have been repeatedly extended by Biden since he took office in January 2021, and he broadened the use of emergency powers after entering the White House.

In March, the US Travel Association applauded the US Senate’s passage of a bill to terminate the emergency declaration – and repeal vaccine requirements for visitors – as a much-needed boost for travel for the country.

“(The) bipartisan action by Congress to lift the vaccine requirement for travel to the US eases a significant entry barrier for many global travellers that will move our country forward,” said USTA President and CEO Geoff Freeman.