Five years on from Covid outbreak, world still unprepared for future pandemics
The world will not be ready to combat new threats until persistent inequalities in access to both funding and vaccines are addressed
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THURSDAY (Jan 23) marks the fifth anniversary of Wuhan, China, entering lockdown in 2020, amid what would become the Covid-19 outbreak. Yet, a half decade later, the world is still under-prepared for a future pandemic, with growing concerns about a range of diseases, including bird flu.
Most recently, the Louisiana Department of Health confirmed the first US death linked to bird flu. A 65-year-old contracted the so-called H5N1 avian influenza strain and was hospitalised before passing away.
In November 2024 too, Canada reported the hospitalisation of a teenager with the D1.1 genotype identified in the Louisiana case. Moreover, US state Missouri also noted a bird flu case last September.
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