World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warns that the coronavirus crisis will not be the last pandemic, therefore countries must strengthen their healthcare systems and be prepared for new emergencies, AFP reports.
According to him, attempts to improve human health are "doomed" without tackling climate change and animal welfare.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also condemned the "dangerously short-sighted" cycle of throwing cash at outbreaks but doing nothing to prepare for the next one.
"We throw money at an outbreak, and when it's over, we forget about it and do nothing to prevent the next one. This is dangerously short-sighted, and frankly difficult to understand," WHO Chief added.
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board's September 2019 first annual report on world readiness for health emergencies published a few months before the novel coronavirus broke out said the planet was woefully unprepared for potentially devastating pandemics.
"History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life," said Tedros.
As we reported earlier, more than 80 million cases of coronavirus infection have already been recorded in the world.
Most cases during the pandemic were recorded in the United States - 19.2 million, followed by India with 10.1 million, and Brazil with 7.4 million cases.
