WHO chief: World not ready for new pandemic

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that the lessons of COVID-19 may be forgotten.

Ghebreyesus said that the lessons of COVID-19 may be forgotten as the world community's attention is now focused on other crises, but the world is not ready for a new pandemic, according to TASS.

Ghebreyesus made these remarks while addressing the World Government Summit in Dubai.

He stated that mankind will sooner or later face a new unknown "X disease," for which the world needs to prepare itself now.

"The painful lessons we learned are in danger of being forgotten as attention turns to the many other crises confronting our world. But if we fail to learn those lessons, we will pay dearly next time," Ghebreyesus said.

He noted that the question is not whether or not a new pandemic will break out, but when it will happen.

"The world remains unprepared for the next Disease X, and the next pandemic. If it struck tomorrow, we would face many of the same problems we faced with COVID-19," the director general added.

He also noted that a new disease "may be caused by an influenza virus, or a new coronavirus, or it may be caused by a new pathogen we don’t even know about yet."

Ghebreyesus recalled that the WHO first used the term "disease X" in 2018 to refer to a disease that experts know nothing about but can make preparations for. "COVID-19 was a Disease X - a new pathogen causing a new disease," he pointed out, noting that the world could still be facing "Disease X, or a Disease Y or a Disease Z" too.