WHO checks world’s pandemic response with fictional ‘mammothpox’ outbreak | EUROtoday

The World Health Organisation has examined 15 nations on their response to a hypothetical new pandemic, simulating the lethal outbreak of a fictional illness.

More than 350 well being emergency consultants took half in a two-day simulation taking a look at how they might take care of “mammothpox”, an invented virus just like smallpox and mpox that was described as “lethal and fast-moving”.

In the situation, referred to as Exercise Polaris, the outbreak occurred when a group of scientists found the stays of a woolly mammoth within the frozen Arctic tundra.

Representatives from the nations checked out how they might take care of the primary few weeks of the outbreak, in response to train paperwork seen by The Independent.

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“Mammothpox disease is severe, with a mortality intermediate between Mpox and Smallpox,” according to the papers. “With modest transmissibility and minimal asymptomatic spread it is controllable”, they added, but only with “effective coordinated responses – similar to SARS or Mpox”.

Participants included Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Iraq, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia Uganda and Ukraine, with additional countries as observers.

Each country was given a “small piece of the puzzle” to test how they would share information and co-operate in order to contain the spread of the virus, according to The Telegraph.

The newspaper reported that one country was told that an Arctic researcher “presenting with symptoms of a pox-like illness” had boarded a cruise ship carrying 2,450 passengers and 980 crew.

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By the second day of the exercise, participants were told plans to prevent the spread of the virus were being hampered by politics and differing strategies.

While some countries implemented “strict border controls, banned all international arrivals and restricted internal movement,” the newspaper reported, others maintained “open borders with minimal restrictions,” relying instead on “contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine measures”.

Within weeks, ICUs were “overwhelmed” and health systems struggled to cope across the globe.

The intent of the programme was to see how countries would deal in the event of another worldwide outbreak, following the real-world experience of Covid five years ago.

Exercise Polaris tested the WHO’s Global well being Emergency Corps, a framework designed to strengthen nations’ emergency workforce, coordinate the deployment of surge groups and consultants and improve collaboration between nations.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General mentioned: “This exercise proves that when countries lead and partners connect, the world is better prepared.

“No country can face the next pandemic alone. Exercise Polaris shows that global cooperation is not only possible – it is essential.”