Even though the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid pandemic to be over a year ago, experts are already speculating about when the next one will strike. “The date of the upcoming pandemic is unknown,” stated Dr. Mahra Khalifa Al Hosani of the Abu Dhabi Public Health Center.
Her remarks were made on Thursday during a panel discussion at the University of Birmingham in Dubai regarding the UAE’s readiness to combat upcoming pandemics.
The Covid pandemic is regarded as one of the deadliest in history, having claimed the lives of almost 7 million people worldwide.
The next pandemic, according to one expert, is just “a matter of time.” Dr. Ahmed Alhammadi, President of the Emirates Infectious Diseases Society, stated, “It could be a respiratory viral illness because it spreads quickly, or a zoonotic infection that spreads from animals to humans, or a vector-borne disease that spreads from mosquitoes – like dengue.”
Dr. Ahmed claims that as the human population grows, so does the risk of zoonotic illnesses. “Many forests are cut down to meet the needs of the growing population, especially in countries like China and India,” he said. “This exposes people to new strains of bacteria and places them in environments where animals once lived, putting them at risk.”
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