Covid-19 Once-In-A-Century Health Crisis, Effects Will Be Felt For Decades: WHO Chief

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday raised another alarm bell of sorts to the global community, stating that the health pandemic is once-in-century health crisis and the rippling effects of the same will be felt for decades to come.

(File Photo/ AFP)

Seven months since it first infected a few hundred citizens in China with its detrimental effects, the Coronavirus pandemic's severity has gone from bad to worse across the planet, accounting for nearly 18 million cases worldwide and leaving nearly 7 lakh people dead and still counting. With the world reeling under its severe impact, the coronavirus pandemic does not seem to end anytime soon even after seven months of savagery. The World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday raised another alarm bell of sorts to the global community, stating that the health pandemic is once-in-century health crisis and the rippling effects of the same will be felt for decades to come. The WHO Chief's remarks came after the world body took stock of the situation around six months after sounding its alarm for the first time over the outbreak. "It’s sobering to think that six months ago, when you recommended I declare a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), there were less than 100 cases and no deaths outside China. The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Tedros expressed hope but was also a bit circumspect over the vaccines being developed around the world to cure against the highly contagious pandemic. He said that more than around 150 pharmaceutical companies are working on vaccines, although their first use cannot be expected until early 2021. The WHO Chief added that although knowledge about the new virus has advanced, many questions remained unanswered and populations remain vulnerable, "Early results from serology (antibody) studies are painting a consistent picture: most of the world's people remain susceptible to this virus, even in areas that have experienced severe outbreaks," he said. "Many countries that believed they were past the worst are now grappling with new outbreaks. Some that were less affected in the earliest weeks are now seeing escalating numbers of cases and deaths." The medico fraternity has been working at neck break speed to come out with a sure shot vaccine for the pandemic but many have failed at being unsuccessful in carrying out clinical trials at the very last stage. The Covid-19 pandemic has been deemed as the most lethal epidemic mankind has witnessed since the Spanish Flu (1918) broke out over a century back.