Despite the severe global weight of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization warns that the outbreak is “not necessarily the biggest” – and urges the world to become “serious” about training.
“This is a wake-up call,” Michael Emergency Chief Michael Ryan told a news conference on Monday, a year after the UN agency first learned of the spread of the new error in China.
Since its release in Wuhan, COVID-19 has killed nearly 1.8 million people worldwide, out of more than 81 million infected. In the United States, about 335,000 people have died and more than 19 million have been infected.
“This pandemic was very severe,” Ryan said, according to France-Presse. “It has spread all over the world extremely fast and has affected every corner of this planet, but it is not necessarily the largest.”
He pointed out that while the virus is “highly transmissible and kills people … its current mortality rate is quite low compared to other emerging diseases.
“We need to prepare for something that could be even harsher in the future,” Ryan added.
Bruce Aylward, WHO’s senior adviser, also warned that while the world has made huge scientific advances, including the development of vaccines at record speeds, it has remained far from being prepared to prevent future pandemics.
“We are in the second and third waves of this virus and we are not yet ready to manage and manage them,” he said. “So while we’re better prepared … we’re not fully prepared for this, let alone for the next one.”
Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed hope that the pandemic had helped the world be better prepared to deal with future threats.
“As far as awareness is concerned, I think we are getting it now,” said the general manager, adding that it is “time to be really serious.”
He also cited the two new strains of the virus that have appeared in the UK and South Africa, which appear to be more infectious than the others.
“We are working with scientists from the UK and South Africa who are conducting epidemiological and laboratory studies that will guide the next steps,” he said.