- The ‘A World At Risk’ report was written by a team of high-ranking global experts
- It said an outbreak like the 1918 flu pandemic could spread even faster nowadays
- And world leaders’ responses to warnings have been ‘grossly insufficient’ so far
A flu-like illness could travel around the world in 36 hours and kill 80million people, experts have warned.
A century ago the Spanish flu pandemic infected a third of the world’s population and killed 50million people.
If a similar outbreak were to happen with today’s constantly-travelling population, the effects could be even worse, a report has suggested.
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), a team of health experts led by a former chief of the World Health Organization, has produced the report to try and spur world leaders into action.
‘The threat of a pandemic spreading around the globe is a real one,’ the group said in a report released today.
‘A quick-moving pathogen has the potential to kill tens of millions of people, disrupt economies and destabilise national security.’