Adds particulars, quotes all through GENEVA, Nov 30 (Reuter
Adds particulars, quotes all through
GENEVA, Nov 30 (Reuters) – The World Well being Group’s prime emergency skilled mentioned on Monday that the world risked future pandemics if it suffered “amnesia” and didn’t be taught from the present coronavirus disaster.
“I’ve seen the amnesia that appears to descend upon the world after a traumatic occasion, and that is comprehensible,” Mike Ryan informed a briefing in Geneva.
“But when we do that once more like we did after SARS, like we did after H5N1, like we did after H1N1 pandemic, if we proceed to disregard the realities of what rising and harmful pathogens can do to our civilization, then we’re prone to expertise the identical or worse once more inside our lifetimes,” he mentioned.
Ryan additionally took a swipe at developed nations, saying that northern international locations had been operating healthcare methods “like low-cost airways” and that the world was paying for that now.
“Within the north, due to the associated fee mannequin for well being methods, we have now designed our well being methods to be delivered at 95%, 98%, at 100% effectivity. It is nearly like a low-cost airline mannequin for well being service supply,” he mentioned.
“Nicely, we’re paying a value for that now, not having that extra-surge capability constructed into the system — seeing well being as a value centre in our financial system, seeing well being as a drain on improvement, as dragging again the financial system, and we have to re-address what meaning.”
WHO Director-Basic Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus additionally urged international locations to not politicize the hunt for the origins of the brand new coronavirus, saying that will solely create limitations to studying the reality.
“We have to know the origin of this virus as a result of it will possibly assist us to stop future outbreaks,” Tedros mentioned.
“There may be nothing to cover. We need to know the origin, and that is it.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, which has accused China of hiding the extent of the outbreak and the Geneva-based world well being physique of being too near Beijing, has criticised the phrases of a WHO-led worldwide investigation into the origin of the pandemic.
Chinese language state media have mentioned the virus existed overseas earlier than it was found within the central Chinese language metropolis of Wuhan, citing the presence of coronavirus on imported frozen meals packaging and scientific papers saying it had been circulating in Europe final 12 months.
(Reporting by Emma Farge and John Miller; Writing by Hugh Lawson; Enhancing by Andrew Heavens and Catherine Evans)
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