Despite the severe global toll of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization warns that the outbreak “is not necessarily the biggest” – and urges the world to “take” preparation seriously.
“This is an alert,” said WHO emergency chief Michael Ryan at a news conference on Monday that marked a year since the UN agency first learned of the spread of the new bug in China.
Since it emerged 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 died and more than 19 million were infected.
“This pandemic was very severe,” said Ryan, according to Agence France-Presse. “It spread across the world extremely quickly and affected every corner of the planet, but this is not necessarily the biggest.”
He pointed out that, although the virus is “very transmissible and kills people … its current lethality (rate) is reasonably low compared to other emerging diseases.
“We need to prepare for something that could be even more serious in the future,” added Ryan.
Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to WHO, also warned that while the world has made huge scientific advances, including the development of vaccines at record speed, it is still far from prepared to prevent future pandemics.
“We are in the second and third waves of this virus and we are not yet prepared to deal with and manage them,” he said. “So, although we are better prepared … we are not fully prepared for this one, let alone the next one.”
Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed hope that the pandemic has helped the world prepare to face future threats.
“In terms of awareness, I think we are doing it now,” said the director-general, adding that “now is the time to be really serious.”
He also cited the two new strains of the virus that emerged in the UK and South Africa that 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, which will guide the next steps,” he said.