COVID-19: This won't be the last pandemic, epidemics are life facts- WHO

The World Health Organization, WHO, has warned that COVID-19 (coronavirus) would not be the last pandemic in the world.  

WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, gave the warning in a video released to mark the first ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on Sunday.  

“History tells us that this won’t be the last pandemic and epidemics are a fact of life,” Ghebreyesus said.  

Ghebreyesus said that better investment in public health supported by governments and society could “ensure that our children and their children inherit a safer, more resilient and more sustainable world.”  

He added that the coronavirus turned the world “upside down” over the past twelve months with far-reaching consequences for societies and economies.  

The WHO chief, however, said the pandemic itself was not a surprise, especially since warnings of such a possibility, and of the world’s unpreparedness, had been issued many times over the years.  

“We must all learn the lessons the pandemic is teaching us,” Ghebreyesus said.  

“This includes investment in preparedness capacities not just in the health sector but rather an ‘all-of-government and all of the social approach.’  

“The pandemic has highlighted the intimate links between the health of humans, animals and planets, which require a common approach,” Ghebreyesus said.