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The new coronavirus has had a catastrophic impact around the world, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that “worse pandemics” could occur in the future. Speaking at a recent WHO emergency briefing, Chief Michael Ryan urged global communities to take “preparedness” seriously. It comes just two days after the United Nations agency marked the first-ever International Pandemic Preparedness Day, highlighting lessons learned from the current health crisis.
The coronavirus crisis that began a year ago in the Chinese city of Wuhan has now escalated to infect more than 81,278,435 people and kill 1,774,395, according to the latest count from John Hopkins University. However, calling it a “wake-up call,” Ryan warned that it “wasn’t necessarily” a big deal. Stressing that the death rate from COVID-19 is “reasonably low” compared to other diseases, he warned people need to be prepared for “something more serious” in the future.
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COVID ‘has spread extremely quickly’
“This pandemic has been very serious. It has spread around the world extremely quickly and has affected every corner of the planet, but it’s not necessarily the biggest, ”he said.
Doubling down on Ryan’s opinion, WHO Senior Advisor Bruce Aylward also warned that while the world has made significant progress in tackling the coronavirus crisis, it is still far from ready to ward off a future crisis. “We are in the second and third waves of this virus and we are still not ready to face it and manage it. So while we are better prepared … we are not quite prepared for this- this, and even less for the next, “he said.
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Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the coronavirus pandemic will not be the last and that attempts to improve human health are doomed to fail without addressing the problem. two prongs of climate change and animal welfare. “Over the past 12 months, lives and livelihoods have been turned upside down by # COVID19. But over the years the WHO and our partners have warned that the world is not prepared for a pandemic, ”he said.
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