The world needs to learn from the Covid-19 pandemic in order to prepare for "even deadlier" viruses in the future, a World Health Organisation (WHO) chief has warned.
Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that people can't carry on as normal after the pandemic, which he claims turned everybody's lives "upside down".
Speaking at a meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Dr Tedros warned that although it may seem as though the worst is over, being prepared for an "even deadlier" pathogen is vital, reports the Mirror.
He said: "The world was taken by surprise and found unprepared for the Covid-19 pandemic, the most severe health crisis in a century.
"Over the past three years, Covid-19 has turned our world upside down. Almost seven million deaths have been reported, but we know the toll is several times higher – at least 20 million.
"The pandemic has caused severe disruption to health systems, and severe economic, social and political upheaval. Covid-19 has changed our world, and it must."
The health boss also warned that there's the risk of a pathogen emerging that's "even deadlier" than Covid-19.
"The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains. And the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains,” he said.
"We cannot kick this can down the road. If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will?
"And if we do not make them now, then when? When the next pandemic comes knocking – and it will – we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively and equitably."
Dr Tedros also highlighted that although Covid is still an issue, it's not as big a concern as it once was.
"To be clear, Covid-19 is still with us, it still kills, it’s still changing, and it still demands our attention, but it no longer represents a public health emergency of international concern," he said.
"The end of Covid-19 as a global health emergency is not just the end of a bad dream from which we have woken. We cannot simply carry on as we did before.
"This is a moment to look behind us and remember the darkness of the tunnel, and then to look forward, and to move forward in the light of the many painful lessons it has taught us.
"Chief among those lessons is that we can only face shared threats with a shared response."
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