World leaders meet in Davos to devise a plan to protect against ‘Disease X’ – a hypothetical pandemic that could kill twenty times more people than Covid

World leaders are meeting this week to express concerns about the potential of a future pandemic that could cause 20 times more fatalities than Covid.

A panel led by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Gehreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, will debate “new efforts needed to prepare healthcare systems for the many challenges ahead” during a session called “Preparing for Disease at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Disease X represents a hypothetical, currently unknown pathogen. It was added to the WHO’s list of nine priority diseases in 2018.

Disease X represents a hypothetical, currently unknown pathogen. It was added to the WHO’s list of nine priority diseases in 2018

Dr. Gehreyesus will be joined on Wednesday by Michel Demaré, chairman of the board of directors of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, Brazilian Health Minister Nisia Trindade Lima, CEO of Royal Philips Roy Jakobs, executive vice chairman of Indian hospital chain Apollo Preetha Reddy and Shyam Bishen, head of the Center for Health and Healthcare and Member of the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum.

In its list of priority diseases, the WHO said: ‘Disease

The UN agency ranks Disease

Experts don’t yet know which type of virus will cause the next pandemic, but scientists have warned for decades that bird flu is the most likely candidate.

Researchers say this is due to the threat of recombination – where high levels of human flu increase the risk of a human also becoming infected with bird flu.

Others have long speculated that disease

Some have even warned that Disease

DailyMail.com previously spoke to three virus experts who agreed that a respiratory virus – spread through droplets from coughing and sneezing – would most likely cause the next fast-spreading disease that causes a global shutdown.

In a session called ‘Preparing for Disease to prepare healthcare systems for the many challenges ahead

DailyMail.com previously spoke to three virus experts who agreed that a respiratory virus would most likely cause the next fast-spreading disease that causes a global shutdown

They said the infamous Disease pandemic.

It was also possible, they warned, that the outbreak could be worse than the Covid pandemic, pointing to the 1918 flu outbreak, which is estimated to have killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, compared to the seven million deaths from Covid.

The main culprits for the next pandemic, the experts speculated, were:nothing coronavirus and bird flu – a virus that infects birds, but may also spread to humans.

The disease has led to the slaughter of five million birds in the US this year in an attempt to prevent an outbreak.

However, the experts could not rule out other diseases such as Ebola and outbreaks of insect-borne diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

Some of the most dangerous viruses – such as smallpox, measles and HIV – originate from animals and are later highly transmissible between humans.

So far, scientists are aware of 25 virus families, each consisting of hundreds or thousands of different viruses, any of which could evolve and cause a pandemic.

Worse, they estimate there could be more than a million undiscovered viruses that could jump from one species to another, mutate dramatically and kill millions of people.

However, there was a silver lining. They pointed to rapid advances in vaccine technology and antiviral drugs as a sign that the pharmaceutical industry could quickly roll out treatments against a pandemic disease when the next one arises.

Countries around the world have pledged a total of $1.5 billion (£1.15 billion) to help scientists prepare for Disease X.

The British government has pledged £160 million ($210 million), in addition to pledges from the US, Japan, Germany, Australia and Norway.

The Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust have also invested in research to tackle Disease

News of the World Economic Forum meeting sparked a heated debate on social media last week, with rumors claiming that preparing for Disease X could result in shutdown measures such as more lockdowns.

During the Trump administration, Monica Crowley, a former Fox News contributor and assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department, said a new disease would allow world leaders to implement lockdowns, “restrict free speech and more destroy freedoms.’

But Dr. Stuart Ray, vice chairman of medicine for data integrity and analytics at the Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine, told Fortune it would be “irresponsible” for world leaders not to meet at the forum.

He said: “There have been several such events in history, and the recent coronavirus pandemic has taught us that a quick response can save millions of lives.

“The coordination of the public health response is not a conspiracy; it’s just responsible planning.’