The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that coronavirus will not be the last pandemic.
To this end, the United Nations agency has constituted the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO).
The team has the mandate to examine the origins of new pathogens including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The members were selected for their expertise in epidemiology, animal health, clinical medicine, virology, and genomics.
WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus made the announcement at a briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.
SAGO will advise on the development of a global framework to guide studies on the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens.
Ghebreyesus noted that the emergence of new viruses with the potential to spark epidemics and pandemics is a fact of nature.
“While SARS-CoV-2 is the latest such virus, it will not be the last”, the WHO chief declared.
