Geneva, Switzerland:
The novel coronavirus has had a devastating effect about the globe, but the World Health Organization warned Monday that worse pandemics could lie ahead, urging the globe to get “serious” about preparedness.
“This is a wakeup call,” WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan told reporters at a briefing marking a year due to the fact the UN agency 1st discovered of the new virus spreading in China.
Since then, Covid-19 has killed practically 1.8 million people today about the globe, out of more than 80 million infected.
“This pandemic has been very severe,” Ryan acknowledged.
“It has spread around the world extremely quickly and it has affected every corner of this planet, but this is not necessarily the big one.”
He stressed that even though the virus is “very transmissible, and it kills people… its current case fatality (rate) is reasonably low in comparison to other emerging diseases.”
“We need to get ready for something that may even be more severe in the future.”
WHO senior advisor Bruce Aylward also cautioned that even though the globe had created substantial scientific progress to address the coronavirus crisis, such as building vaccines at record speed, it remained far from ready to ward off future pandemics.
“We are into second and third waves of this virus and we are still not prepared to deal with and manage those,” he told the briefing.
“So while we are better prepared… we are not fully prepared for this one, let alone the next one.”
– ‘More ambition’ –
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus meanwhile voiced hope that the Covid-19 pandemic had helped the globe turn into more ready to tackle future threats.
“In terms of awareness, I think we are now getting it,” he mentioned.
But he stressed that it was “time now to be really serious.”
“More ambition will be necessary.”
But Tedros also hailed how scientists about the globe had been working closely with each other to aid bring the pandemic to an finish.
He particularly pointed out the two new strains of the virus that have emerged in Britain and South Africa, which seem to be more infectious that prior strains.
“We are working with scientists in the UK and South Africa who are carrying out epidemiologic and laboratory studies, which will guide next steps,” he mentioned.
He hailed the two nations for testing and tracking the new variants.
And with more than 50 nations now imposing travel restrictions on Britain, he also warned against taking punishing measures against nations that transparently share such benefits.
“Only if countries are looking and testing effectively will you be able to pick up variants and adjust strategies to cope,” he mentioned.
“We must ensure that countries are not punished for transparently sharing new scientific findings.”
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