World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video marking the first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness Sunday "history tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life."
What he's saying: Tedros said responses to such outbreaks had been "dangerously short-sighted," throwing money at the problem without preparing for the next one.
"With investments in public health, supported by an all-of-government, all-of-society, one health approach, we can ensure that our children, and their children inherit a safer. more resilient and more sustainable world."
- "The pandemic has highlighted the intimate links between the health of humans, animals and planet," the WHO director-general added.
- "Any efforts to improve human health are doomed unless they address the critical interface between humans and animals, and the existential threat of climate change that's making our earth less habitable."
By the numbers: Almost 332,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and nearly 19 million have tested positive, per Johns Hopkins.
- Globally, nearly 1.8 million people have died from the virus and over 80.3 million have tested positive.
The big picture: Several countries have reported cases of a new strain of COVID-19 first detected in England — one of many countries to impose restrictions on citizens in order to curb spiking cases.
- COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out in the U.S. and around the world.