After three pandemic-hit years, the world must be better prepared to deal with next health crisis

WALK around the streets of Singapore these days, and there are very few visual reminders that Covid-19 is still around us. The majority of people don’t don face coverings regularly any more, with mask-wearing mandatory only in healthcare and public transport settings.

Social distancing and capacity limits are a thing of the past, with crowds returning in full force at malls, the airport, restaurants, sports venues and elsewhere. Travelling to and from most countries is virtually unrestricted. And it has likely been weeks, perhaps even months in some cases, since many people last tested themselves for the coronavirus.

But in the eyes of the World Health Organization (WHO), Covid-19 is very much alive and kicking. On Monday (Jan 30), exactly three years to the day that the Geneva-based body declared a so-called public health emergency of international concern – its highest possible level of global alert – the WHO stressed that the pandemic continues to remain a worldwide emergency.

The numbers in the past 1,100 days or so since that fateful day in 2020 tell a sobering story. When the WHO first issued its warning, there were fewer than 100 known infections and no one had perished outside of China.

Today, there have been more than 752 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 – including nearly 2.22 million in Singapore – and over 6.8 million deaths, with the actual figures widely believed to be much higher. In the last eight weeks alone, the WHO said that over 170,000 people have died due to Covid-19 – a rate of 21,500 a week, more than double the 10,000 a week seen in October.

China’s abrupt lifting of its strict zero-Covid policy didn’t help matters much. A massive outbreak there meant that more than half of the nearly 40,000 weekly Covid-related deaths in mid-January were in China.

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These statistics alone are proof that the pandemic is very much in our midst, and it would be foolish to think otherwise, even though the situation is, of course, better today than what it was just a year ago when the Omicron wave was at its peak.

As we continue with the transition to living with Covid-19 and treating the disease as endemic, what’s important is what governments and citizens do with the knowledge and experience gained from living through the pandemic over the last three years.

The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) – the world’s largest humanitarian network – delivered a reality check on Monday, as it stressed that the world remains “dangerously unprepared” for the next crisis. As the federation’s secretary-general Jagan Chapagain rightly pointed out, the Covid-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for the global community to prepare itself to deal with the next health crisis.

It may seem premature or even unthinkable to imagine having to deal with another global health emergency that’s anywhere near the scale of Covid-19, but the IFRC is right to warn that the next pandemic could be just around the corner. Countries and policymakers must redouble their efforts to be prepared for all kinds of disasters that could happen. These could happen at short notice, and in some cases they could even strike simultaneously. What’s clear is that strong political will – something that’s lacking in many economies – is needed to turn commitment into action.