UN declares Dec 27 International Epidemic Preparedness Day

A year in the global battle against Covid-19, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on Monday declared December 27 to be International Epidemic Preparedness Day in an effort to ensure lessons learned to any future health crises. Covid-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019, and spread globally. So far it has infected more than 66 million people and killed about 1.5 million.

The World Health Organization (WHO) called it a pandemic in March, a statement that the United States and other countries said was overdue. The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution by consensus on Monday that recognized the need "to raise the level of preparedness to get the earliest and most adequate response to any epidemic that may arise.

UN International Crisis Group Director Richard Gowan described the symbolic move as a relevant General Assembly effort when many small and poor countries fear that they will not take part in real decisions about vaccines or coronavirus recovery. The UN resolution stresses the importance of international cooperation and multilateralism.

Vietnam's UN Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy as he introduced the resolution said, the pandemic caught us off guard, but has also served as a call to increase our preparedness. We believe that commemorating the International Day on Epidemic Preparedness will be an important way to achieve this goal.