Emerging variants and pathogens may cause even deadlier pandemic: says WHO chief

Geneva: The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the world needs to be ready for another pandemic which might be "even deadlier" than the Covid-19 pandemic. He asserted that the end of Covid-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of Covid-19 as a global health threat.

He highlighted that another variant of the coronavirus or even a completely different pathogen can emerge and they may have deadlier potential. "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."

Speaking about emergencies, he said that pandemics are far from the only threat humans face and stressed the need to develop mechanisms to respond to emergencies of all kinds. "When the next pandemic comes knocking-and it will-we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively, and equitably," reported Reuters.

He added that the pandemic had big implications for health-related targets which have a deadline of 2030. "It also affected progress towards the Triple Billion targets."

"The pandemic has blown us off course, but it has shown us why the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must remain our north star, and why we must pursue them with the same urgency and determination with which we countered the pandemic," said the WHO head.