The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday, 26 April 2023, launched a new initiative to help strengthen countries’ ability to plan for, and deal with, another deadly pandemic like COVID-19, as the latest figures show a huge fall in COVID deaths this year.

The guidance provides a joined-up approach for responding to the threat or arrival of any respiratory pathogen such as flu or the range of coronaviruses, that have the ability to rapidly mutate into different variants.

According to WHO, the new Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threat Initiative (PRET), incorporates the latest tools and approaches for shared learning and collective action established during the COVID-19 pandemic, and other recent public health emergencies.