The novel coronavirus that apparently originated from Wuhan, China is showing no signs of slowing down, and the pandemic is spreading like wildfire in countries like the United States and Italy. As the world is waiting for a light at the end of the tunnel, WHO has warned that something deadly and dangerous than COVID could hit the planet in the future.
WHO urges world to get prepared
WHO admitted that coronavirus is a severe pandemic, but they warned that worse pandemics could lie ahead, which means humanity should be well prepared to combat the outbreak.
"This is a wake-up call. This pandemic has been very severe. 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. COVID is very transmissible, and it kills people. However, its current 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," said Michael Ryan, WHO emergencies chief.
The comments from Michael Ryan comes at a time when the coronavirus pandemic completes one year of an ultimate rampage on the planet. According to the latest statistics, the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 1.8 million people worldwide, and the number of COVID-19 positive cases has crossed 80 million.
The mutation dilemma
As the world is waiting for an effective pandemic against the virus, the major issue that bothers healthcare experts is the virus' deadly mutations. A few days back, a mutated strain of coronavirus which has more than 70 per cent contraction rate when compared to the original strain was detected in the United Kingdom. Even though most of the countries took urgent action to cut travel ties with the UK, the mutated strain has already reached countries like India, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Japan, Australia, and Lebanon.
