Bird Flu a Reminder to Put up Safeguards Against ‘Threat of a Future Pandemic’: Professor

The bird flu situation is reminder the “threat of a future pandemic is real,” according to the chair of New Zealand’s COVID-19 Royal Commission. In an update for the New Zealand COVID-19 inquiry, Professor Tony Blakely said the world is “alert to the risk” that H5N1 could mutate to a variant that is capable of human to human airborne transmission. “There hasn’t been a recorded case of H5N1 in Aotearoa (New Zealand), and we do have protocols and plans in place to monitor this disease,” the University of Melbourne epidemiologist said. “This recent development is a timely reminder that the threat of a future pandemic is real. It is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ the next pandemic occurs....