No country is immune from the threat posed by COVID-19 and other fast-spreading viruses. In fact, climate change, increased global mobility, and demographic shifts are likely to increase the risks, uncertainties, and costs associated with similar outbreaks in the future.
ADDIS ABABA – The COVID-19 outbreak is threatening to become a global pandemic of the type not seen for a century. This new coronavirus has now spread to 77 countries, infecting over 93,000 people and killing more than 3,200; so far, 86% of cases and 93% of deaths have been in China, where the outbreak began. With the virus now having been identified on six continents, the World Health Organization has raised its threat assessment to its highest level. And Bill Gates, who previously has been vocal about the danger of a global pandemic, says COVID-19 “has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.”
ADDIS ABABA – The COVID-19 outbreak is threatening to become a global pandemic of the type not seen for a century. This new coronavirus has now spread to 77 countries, infecting over 93,000 people and killing more than 3,200; so far, 86% of cases and 93% of deaths have been in China, where the outbreak began. With the virus now having been identified on six continents, the World Health Organization has raised its threat assessment to its highest level. And Bill Gates, who previously has been vocal about the danger of a global pandemic, says COVID-19 “has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.”