WHO Chief Hopes Mankind Will Get Rid Of Coronavirus Pandemic In "Less Than 2 Years"

The WHO Chief highlighted the fact that mankind had made huge technological progress since the outbreak of the Spanish Flu over a century back in 1918 but also added that technology had both positive and negative effects in a highly connected and closed world.

WHO Chief (Image AFP/Getty)

Amidst the world continuing to reel under the alarming attack of the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hopes the Covid-19 pandemic will be shorter than the gruesome Spanish flu which hit the world in 1918 and last less than two years. With the lethal coronavirus showing no signs of weaning off in the near future and the much desired vaccine still under final stages of clinical trials in most nations,the WHO has always been rather cautious in giving out estimates on how quickly the pandemic can be dealt while there is no sure shot preventive mechanism against the highly contagious vaccine The WHO Chief highlighted the fact that mankind had made huge technological progress since the outbreak of the Spanish Flu over a century back in 1918 but also added that technology had both positive and negative effects in a highly connected and closed world. Tedros said the 1918 Spanish flu "took two years to stop"."So we hope to finish this pandemic (in) less than two years." "And in our situation now with more technology, and of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading, it can move fast because we are more connected now," he told a briefing in Geneva. "But at the same time we have also the technology to stop it and the knowledge to stop it. So we have a disadvantage of globalisation, closeness, connectedness but an advantage of better technology. The Chief of the apex health body in the United Nations once again underlined the importance of  "national unity" and "global solidarity" among nations around the world to fight the pandemic. "That is really key with utilising the available tools to the maximum and hoping that we can have additional tools like vaccine." Over 22 million people around the globe have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus since it was first broke out in China last year and nearly 8 lakh have died after contracting the deadly virus. The Spanish Flu, the deadliest pandemic known to mankind in modern history, killed as many as 50 million and infected around 500 million around the world between February 1918 and April 2020. The sheer quantum of casualties inflicted by the deadly pandemic was five times more that unleashed in World War I. The first victims were recorded in the United States, before it spread to Europe and then around the world.