World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video marking the first Sunday of the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness “History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic and epidemics are a fact.”
What he says: Tedros said the responses to such outbreaks had been “dangerously shortsighted”, throwing money at the problem without preparing for the next.
“With investments in public health, backed by an all-government, society-wide, one health approach, we can ensure that our children and their children inherit a safer, more resilient, and more sustainable world.”
- “The pandemic has highlighted the close links between human, animal and planetary health,” added the WHO Director General.
- “Any attempt to improve human health is doomed unless they address the critical human-animal interface and the existential threat of climate change that makes our Earth less habitable.”
In numbers: Nearly 332,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and nearly 19 million have tested positive, according to Johns Hopkins.
- Worldwide, nearly 1.8 million people have died from the virus and more than 80.3 million have tested positive.
The big picture: Several countries have reported cases of a new strain of COVID-19 first discovered in England – one of many countries that imposes restrictions on civilians to curb spiking cases.