Warning about ‘next pandemic’ as coronavirus death toll nears 1 million
- Independent body set up by the WHO and World Bank decried how little the world had focused on preparing for such disasters
- United States, Brazil and India are the worst affected countries, with the US death toll nearing 200,000
As the world grapples with the devastating coronavirus pandemic, it is doing far too little to prepare for future, possibly even more damaging pandemics, a global health monitor warned.
In a fresh report, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), an independent body created by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, decried that the coronavirus pandemic had revealed how little the world had focused on preparing for such disasters, despite ample warnings that large disease outbreaks were inevitable.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is providing a harsh test of the world’s preparedness,” the report said, concluding that little progress had been made on any of the actions it had called for in its initial report last year, before Covid-19 struck.
“Failure to learn the lessons of Covid-19 or to act on them with the necessary resources and commitment will mean that the next pandemic, which is sure to come, will be even more damaging,” it warned.
Gro Harlem Brundtland, GPMB co-chair and a former WHO chief, stressed during the virtual launch of the report Monday that the board had warned a year ago that the world was ill prepared for a pandemic.
“Tragically and catastrophically we have seen our worst fears realised,” she said.