Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s emergency program, said this week that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, including two more easily transmissible strains of the deadly virus, “is not necessarily the big one” when possible future pandemics are considered.
The new variants are called B.1.1.7 and 501.V2 and could reportedly affect the current course of the pandemic.
What are the details?
According to Newsweek, Ryan said the COVID-19 pandemic “is not necessarily the big one.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic is “very serious,” the worst may not have happened yet.
Ryan, who made the statements during a briefing on Monday, said: “This pandemic has been very serious, it has spread around the world extremely quickly, it has affected every corner of this planet. But it is not necessarily the big one. “.
He added: “This virus is highly transmissible … and it kills people and has deprived so many people of loved ones. But its current fatality rate is reasonably low compared to other emerging diseases. It is a wake-up call. “.
Ryan noted that the planet is in a “fragile” state and that global society is becoming “increasingly complex.”
“These threats will continue,” he warned. “If there’s one thing we need to get out of this pandemic with all the tragedy and loss it is that we have to put our act together, we need to prepare for something that can be even more serious in the In this, we must respect those we have lost by improving what we do every day. “
What else?
According to Newsweek, more than a dozen countries around the world have reported COVID-19 cases caused by the new, related to variants such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
“None of the strains have been detected in the United States, but last week the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the UK variant” could already be in the United States without being detected. ” “, reported the exit.
On Monday, Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, director of the Special Pathogens Unit at Boston Medical Center, told CNBC that the variant could only have been overlooked in the United States due to current testing capacity.
“To find this strain, all we have to do is take a percentage of the diagnosed samples and do deep genetic analysis, and [in] in the US, our capacity has not been spectacular, ”he explained, noting a CDC report in early December.
“If the strain is here, we may miss it because the holes in the net are too wide,” Bhadelia explained.