'High risk' of another pandemic with threat of flu jumping from animals to ... trends now
Europe must be prepared for the 'high risk' of a flu pandemic, a World Health Organization (WHO) chief sensationally claimed today.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the UN agency's acting director for pandemic preparedness, said it was a 'certainty' the continent would face the threat of influenza.
Speaking on a WHO podcast, she argued Covid would not be 'the last pandemic we will deal with in our lifetimes'.
Instead, an unknown future threat could strike in unprecedented fashion.
But the respected epidemiologist also admitted coronavirus 'did not have to be as bad as it was'.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the UN agency's acting director for pandemic preparedness, said it was a 'certainty' the continent would face the threat of influenza. Speaking on a WHO podcast, she argued Covid would not be 'the last pandemic we will deal with in our lifetimes'
In 2018, the WHO identified nine priority diseases (listed) that pose the biggest risk to public health. They were deemed to be most risky due to a lack of treatments or their ability to cause a pandemic. This included disease X — a placeholder name for an unknown future threat
Sir John Bell (pictured), who served as Boris Johnson 's testing tsar during Covid, said it was 'inconceivable' the country wouldn't face a further 'big event'. Addressing MPs sitting on the Health and Social Care Committee, he argued there was a '20 or 30 per cent chance' another pandemic would occur within 20 years
She told Health in Europe: 'For me, flu is a certainty because it's so much in circulation. It's infected many different species.
'We have avian influenza and the opportunities for reassortance [genetic changes to a virus that allow it to jump between species], the opportunities for a pandemic of influenza virus are high.
'That's why we have a whole system in place to be prepared for this. The challenge is, will we see another coronavirus pandemic?
'Given that we had SARS-CoV-2 cause a pandemic, for sure, this is an opportunity. The question is, will we see an Arbovirus pandemic?'
Arboviruses, also known as arthropod-borne viruses, refer to infections spread to people by the bite of infected insects such as mosquitoes and ticks.
She added: 'Now, I'm not saying this to scare people who are listening to this, but for us, it's something that we have to be prepared for.
'So, we have to think out of the box. Really prepare for what are the known threats, but also think out of the box for something different, perhaps waterborne or whatnot.
'So for me, pandemics, unfortunately, are part of what we will deal with in our lifetimes.
'I don't believe this will be the last pandemic we will deal with in our lifetimes.'
For decades, leading scientists have warned bird flu is the most likely contender for triggering the
