The virus that brought the world to its knees/ Today, five years since the first victim from Sars CoV-2

Five years ago, a previously unknown virus plunged humanity into an unprecedented crisis: on January 11, 2020, the world's first death from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was recorded in China.

Experts now wonder how well prepared the world is for future pandemics.

Asked whether the world is now better prepared for pandemics, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in December: “The answer is yes and no.” The world still has to deal with “some vulnerabilities and trends of vulnerability.” On the other hand, the global community has learned many “painful lessons” and “has taken important measures to strengthen its defenses against future epidemics and pandemics,” the WHO chief stressed.

According to Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO's Epidemic and Pandemic Response Department, it is only a matter of time before the world is threatened by the next pandemic. As a result of the experiences from the Corona pandemic and the severe influenza epidemic in 2009, "many things have improved", but the world remains inadequately prepared for a "massive outbreak" of an infectious disease or a new pandemic, Van Kerkhove believes.

The Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response, convened by the WHO, also comes to a very similar conclusion: Among other things, it criticizes the fact that there are still inequalities worldwide in access to vaccines and medicines.

American epidemiologist Meg Scheffer is also skeptical: “To be honest, no, I don’t think we’re any more prepared than we were with Covid.” Health authorities around the world are still unable to rapidly collect and share information about new pathogens.