The World Health Organization urged the world to get “serious”, warning that worse pandemics could lie ahead. WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan spoke at a briefing marking a year since it first learned of the new virus spreading in China. Covid-19 has since, killed almost 1.8 million people around the world, and over 80 million infected. Ryan said, “This is a wake up call. This pandemic has been very severe. 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 said that while the virus is “very transmissible, and it kills people, its current case fatality 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 countries saying that while huge scientific progress has been made, they remained far from prepared to ward off future pandemics.
He said, “We are into second and third waves of this virus and we are still not prepared to deal with and manage those. So while we are better prepared... we are not fully prepared for this one, let alone the next one.” Also speaking at the briefing, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “time now to be really serious.”
He said, “In terms of awareness, I think we are now getting it. More ambition will be necessary.” Tedros hailed scientists around the world for working closely together to help bring the pandemic to an end. He mentioned the two new strains of the virus that have emerged in Britain and South Africa. “We are working with scientists in the UK and South Africa who are carrying out epidemiologic and laboratory studies, which will guide next steps. Only if countries are looking and testing effectively will you be able to pick up variants and adjust strategies to cope. We must ensure that countries are not punished for transparently sharing new scientific findings.”
