GENEVA (NewsNation Now) — World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday the world must be better prepared for the next pandemic, as he called on countries to invest in public health.
According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, there have been 27,219,847 cases of COVID-19 in the world and 890,687 global deaths, since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
“This will not be the last pandemic,” Tedros said during a news briefing in Geneva. “History teaches us that outbreaks and pandemics are a fact of life. But when the next pandemic comes, the world must be ready – more ready than it was this time.”
Last week during a virtual press conference, Tedros said he had heard people describing high Covid-19 death rates among older people as “fine.”
“No, when the elderly are dying it’s not fine. It’s a moral bankruptcy, ” he said. “We should not be morally dead. Every life, whether it’s young or old, is precious and we have to do everything to save it. So, the best approach would be something that works for all of us to stay alive, for the young, for the old.”
WHO figures from August show that almost 88% of all deaths in Europe were among people aged 65 and over.