Time to invest in pandemic prevention, preparedness: AIIMS Director

Urbanisation, loss of animal habitats responsible for pandemics, says Randeep Guleria

The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst so far that the country and the world has seen in the 21st century and it is likely to persist till the entire world’s population is vaccinated or naturally infected, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Prof. Randeep Guleria has said. He was delivering the endowment lecture at the 41st Foundation Day Programme of GITAM Deemed to be University, here on Saturday. He observed that increasing urbanisation, loss of animal habitats, particularly cohabitation with humans, were the key factors for the rise of such pandemics in the 21st century.