Covid-19 not necessarily the big one, it’s a wake-up call: WHO warns crisis may get worse
The World Health Organisation have warned that the Coronavirus is not necessarily the big one, and that there is a real chance of another, more serious pandemic spreading across the world and urged the world to get "serious" about preparedness. "This is a wake-up call," WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan told reporters at a briefing.
"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," Ryan was quoted as saying by AFP.
He stressed that while the virus is “very transmissible, and it kills people... its current case fatality (rate) is reasonably low in comparison to other emerging diseases.”
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WHO senior advisor Bruce Aylward also cautioned that while the world had made huge scientific progress to address the coronavirus crisis, including developing vaccines at record speed, it remained far from prepared 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 was quoted as saying at the briefing by the news agency.
“So while we are better prepared... we are not fully prepared for this one, let alone the next one.”
Meanwhile, voicing hope that the COVID-19 pendamic had helped world become more prepared to tackle future threats, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “In terms of awareness, I think we are now getting it."
