WHO warns COVID-19 pandemic is ‘not necessarily the big one’

(FASTNEWS |   CHINA) – Despite the severe global toll of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization has warned that the outbreak is “not necessarily the big one” — and is urging the world to get “serious” about preparedness.

“This is a wakeup call,” WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan said at a press conference Monday marking a year since the UN agency first learned of the new bug spreading in China.

Since emerging in Wuhan, COVID-19 has killed almost 1.8 million people around the world, out of over 81 million infected. In the US, about 335,000 people have died and over 19 million have been infected.

“This pandemic has been very severe,” Ryan said, according to Agence France-Presse. “It has spread around the world extremely quickly and it has affected every corner of this planet, but this is not necessarily the big one.”

He stressed that while the virus is “very transmissible, and it kills people … its current case fatality (rate) is reasonably low in comparison to other emerging diseases.

“We need to get ready for something that may even be more severe in the future,” Ryan added.