World Must Prepare for New ‘Disease X’ After COVID Pandemic, WHO

Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that a new ‘Disease X’ is only a matter of time, and the world must prepare for it. This was stated by Batyr Berdiklychev, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Russia, during an interview with TASS at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

“It is important to note that there are enormous amounts of viruses and bacteria in the world that have the ability to change their properties and mutate. Of course, the emergence of such a virus or bacteria will be a prerequisite for a pandemic, any pathogen that can transmit this infection from person to person, particularly in the absence of immunity in the population,” Berdiklychev said.

According to him, predicting when and where this will happen is “very difficult, almost impossible.” “However, scientists, epidemiologists, and experts around the world agree that this is a very real threat,” he emphasized. “It is only a matter of time. Therefore, it is a crucial issue to prepare for such a situation, this so-called Disease X.”

He stated that preparing for such a threat includes epidemiological surveillance, analyzing the properties of the virus, how it interacts with the body, and how the immune system is ready to respond to such a viral infection.

“Of course, there is also the development of vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments,” the WHO representative continued. “I can say that there is a very strong epidemiological surveillance system in the Russian Federation, with very high expertise and production potential for the development of vaccines and medications.”