Covid-19 lessons not being learned, says global body that predicted pandemic

Name: The global spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19
Uploaded: 2021-10-26T07:00:17.000Z
Duration: 7 min 7 s
Description: The global spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19

Without change, we will fail to end this pandemic or avert another, according to board that in 2019 flagged ‘very real threat’ of a lethal respiratory pathogen

Lamenting ‘cycle of panic and neglect’, it recommends international rules for emergency response, greater data sharing and a stronger WHO

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Freshly dug graves in South Africa symbolise the devastation of a pandemic for which the world was ill-prepared. Photo: Reuters

Simone McCarthy

Published: 3:00pm, 26 Oct 2021Updated: 10:58pm, 26 Oct 2021

In September 2019, three months before the world first learned of a new virus that would spark a global pandemic, a health watchdog released a report painting a dire picture of a planet at risk of a crisis.

There was a “very real threat” of a rapidly moving, highly lethal respiratory pathogen starting a pandemic, killing tens of millions and wiping trillions off the global economy, members of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) wrote in their inaugural report. “The world is not prepared,” they said.

Two years later, the world is more than 18 months deep into a pandemic. Though less deadly so far than the worst case imagined by the group, the global crisis has thrown into sharp relief shortcomings they outlined in 2019.

What is worse – according to their 2021 report, released on Tuesday – “there is scant evidence that we are learning the right lessons from this pandemic”.

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The global spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19

“If we do not change course – even with the results of our failings staring us squarely in the face – we will have squandered a rare and fleeting opportunity to implement the transformative changes needed,” wrote the board’s co-chair Elhadj As Sy, former head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.