WHO marks 5 years since COVID-19 appeared on its radar — it became the worst pandemic of the century
On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization first learned of what ended up being the worst pandemic in more than a century.
That day, the WHO office in China downloaded a press release from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission from their website about cases of what it called “viral pneumonia.”
A virus that may have seemed harmless at the time ended up shaping our lives and our world in the weeks, months and years that unfolded and became known as the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As we mark this milestone, let’s take a moment to honor the lives changed and lost, acknowledge those suffering from COVID-19 and long-term COVID, express gratitude to the healthcare workers who have sacrificed so much to care for us, and commit to learning from COVID-19 to build a healthier future,” WHO said in a statement marking the five-year anniversary.
More than seven million deaths have been reported worldwide, with more than 55,000 of those deaths in Canada, according to the WHO, although officials have said the global death toll is likely far higher.
And although the WHO has said that the emergency phase of COVID-19 is over, they also note that the virus continues to spread around the world, endangering people’s lives.
The COVID-19 pandemic will also always be a constant reminder of the possibility of new viruses emerging with devastating consequences.
In its statement, the WHO also urged China to share data and access to understand the origins of COVID-19. “Without transparency, sharing and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.”
Many experts believe that the virus is naturally transmitted from animals to humans, but doubts remain that it escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.
A man who lives at the Lynn Valley Care Center in North Vancouver has become the first person to die of COVID-19 in Canada.
First cases, deaths, closures and social distancing
Canada reported its first “presumed” case of COVID-19 on January 25, 2020. The patient was a man in his 50s who had returned to Toronto just days earlier from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak at the time.
On Sunday, March 8, 2020, Canada recorded its the first death attributed to COVID. BC health officials have confirmed that a man in his 80s with underlying medical conditions has died after contracting the disease at Lynn Valley Care Center in North Vancouver.
Worryingly, the increase in cases, deaths and the number of infected countries led the WHO to characterize COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
“We have sounded the alarm bell loud and clear,” it said.
Soon the scary words of lockdown, quarantine and social distancing became all too real.
The National analyzes the week since March 11, when the WHO declared a pandemic and everything changed in Canada and much of the world.
Gathering with loved ones, eating in restaurants or going to the cinema have become a thing of the past, replaced by the “new normal”.
Masks have become fashion statements. People organized Zoom parties. As schools and offices closed to prevent the spread of the virus, working from home and online classes suddenly became possibilities. Everyone tried their hand at baking. People banged pots and pans every day in honor of frontline healthcare workers. Sneezing and coughing in public felt like a crime. The list of changes was endless.
Meanwhile, the scientific and medical research community was the study of the coronavirus and urgently works on develop vaccines. Less than nine months after the pandemic was declared, Health Canada approved Pfizer’s vaccine against the virus in early December 2020, and approval for Moderna’s vaccine followed later that month.
After slow start vaccine introduction in Canada, country quickly climbed to the top as for first doses, more than 64 percent of Canadians have rolled up their sleeves by June 2021.
End of emergency phase
Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, the WHO declared the end of the global emergency for COVID-19 in May 2023, more than three years after the pandemic was declared.
Borders opened, families reunited, businesses slowly began to pull back from the pandemic-induced lockdown, and hugging and socializing became commonplace again.
Almost seven million people died during the pandemic, “but we know that the figure is several times higher – at least 20 million”, said then the Director General of the WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
During the pandemic, the coronavirus evolved into different variants including Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron, highlighting the critical importance of vaccines. But over time, the adoption slowed down. By December 2023, federal figures showed only 15 percent of the Canadian population aged five and over have received an updated vaccine.
And while SARS-CoV-2 is now a known threat, the virus is not exclusively seasonal. It continues to circulate throughout the yearhumming in the background.
The new vaccines are still being sold in pharmacies, but public health officials say the country’s focus is now on encouraging those most in need of protection to get up-to-date vaccines in order to protect themselves from currently circulating variants.
Are we better prepared for the next pandemic?
At a recent press conference, Ghebreyesus was asked if the world is better prepared for the next possible pandemic. “The answer is both yes and no,” he said.
The bird flu situation is escalating in the US, with California officials declaring a state of emergency earlier this month. Infections in dairy cows are on the rise and cause sporadic human illness in the US
Current7:35 p.mCould H5N1 become the next pandemic?
The bird flu virus, H5N1, has infected livestock in the US. This raises fears that it could cross over to other species such as humans. We ask experts how worried they are about the virus and whether it poses a risk of a new pandemic.
That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread among wild birds, commercial poultry and many mammal species for years. The virus, also known as type A H5N1, was discovered for the first time in American dairy cattle in March.
Flu watchers say it will and continue to carefully monitor the potential of the pandemic strain H5N1 in 2025. The virus continues to spread among American dairy cattle and decimate Canadian poultry.
If the next pandemic arrived today, the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that gave COVID-19 a foothold five years ago, Ghebreyesus explains.
“But the world has also learned many of the painful lessons the pandemic taught us and has taken significant steps to strengthen defenses against future epidemics and pandemics,” he said.
