UAE has plans in place to deal with health crises

No country expected a pandemic to hit in 2020. The World Health Organization, virologists, and epidemiologists didn’t see the contagion coming either. More than two years later, the origins of the coronavirus still remain a mystery, though it was first detected in a vet market in Wuhan, China. Back in 2020, the world’s response to the virus was slow and faltering.

The WHO delayed calling it a pandemic for almost two months by which time it had become a full-blown health emergency that disrupted lives and livelihoods. Today, as the world recovers and limps back to normalcy, it’s disturbing that the origins of the virus remain unclear.

Scientists are yet to prove that the virus is zoonotic in nature, meaning it jumped from an animal to humans. Fingers have been pointed at the humble bat. Some say there was an intermediary, like the pangolin or even a snake. Evidence, however, is scant as opinions abound.

The mystery lingers, giving vent to conspiracy theories, misinformation and fake news. But the silver lining of this crisis is that governments, health bodies and pharmaceutical companies are better prepared to deal with future pandemics and other challenges that come their way. Much research has gone into the nature of the virus and a variety of vaccines have been developed.

Closer home, a United Nations report says the UAE is one of the better-prepared nations to combat multiple crises. These include disasters caused by climate change. There’s conflict brewing which has hit production and supplies of food and other essentials. In fact, the world may be heading towards a perfect storm, or a storm of crises is barreling towards us.