Although Covid-19 has hit the world hard this year, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) say we should keep in mind that this pandemic is “not necessarily the big one”. That writes The Guardian.
“This is an alarm,” said Michael Ryan, the Irish physician who is chief director of the WHO Health Emergency Program. “We live in an increasingly complex global society. These dangers will continue to emerge. If there is one thing we need to learn from this pandemic, it is that we need to put things in order. ”
Scientists have been warning of new pandemics for years. Due to deforestation and the sale of wildlife, the risk of zoonoses, such as sars-cov-2 and ebola. Increased international traffic means that new pathogens can spread around the world at a record pace.
Ryan warns that vaccines are no guarantee that we can eradicate the coronavirus. According to epidemiologist David Heymann, we should also assume that sars-cov-2 will continue to circulate for some time.
“It looks like it is becoming an endemic virus, just as it happened with four other human coronaviruses,” said Heymann. “Fortunately we have the tools to save lives. In combination with good public health, this enables us to learn to live with covid-19. ”
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