The big one: WHO warns future pandemics could be worse than coronavirus – National

The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 1.7 million people, destroyed economies and pushed hospitals to the brink of collapse.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that, despite its severity, the pandemic is not “necessarily the big one.”

At a media conference on Monday, the head of the WHO emergency program, Dr. Mark Ryan, if there is one thing to take away from this pandemic, “we need to prepare for something that may be more serious in the future.”

“This pandemic has been very serious, has spread extremely quickly around the world and has affected every corner of this planet,” said Ryan. “But this is not necessarily the big one. This virus is highly transmissible and kills people, it has robbed so many people of loved ones. But the current mortality rate is fairly low compared to other emerging diseases. This is a wake-up call. “

READ MORE: The Next Pandemic Will Be ‘More Damaging’ If Lessons Are Learned From COVID-19, Panel Says

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He added that the threats will continue, and because our planet is so “fragile”, we need to learn from the coronavirus pandemic and “get our affairs in order.”

Ryan also said there is a possibility never to eradicate COVID-19 – despite the recent rollout of safe vaccines.

“The likely scenario is that the virus will become another endemic virus that will remain somewhat of a threat, but a very low threat in the context of an effective global vaccination program,” he said.

“It remains to be seen how well the vaccines are absorbed, how close we get to a level of coverage that could allow us to go for elimination,” he said. “The existence of a vaccine, even with high efficacy, does not guarantee the elimination or eradication of an infectious disease,” he said.

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Coronavirus: WHO official says the coming months will “ be tough ” despite vaccine approval

The warning comes more than two weeks after a highly contagious coronavirus variant was announced by the British government.

On December 26, Canada reported the first two cases of the coronavirus variant found in the UK. The variant has also spread to Australia, Japan and several European countries.

The WHO said previously that the newly authorized vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna, should still work against the new coronavirus variant.

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