US CDC chief announces departure by end of June

Los Angeles, May 6

Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Rochelle Walensky has announced that she will depart the agency at the end of June.

Walensky has led the CDC through a transition to normalcy across the country, after two years of Covid-19 related closures and waves of dangerous, new virus variants.

She also launched a wide-ranging set of reforms designed to strengthen CDC communications and response operations.

US President Joe Biden said that Walensky led a complex organisation on the front lines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Dr. Walensky leaves CDC a stronger institution, better positioned to confront health threats and protect Americans," Biden said.