
WHO tests the world's pandemic response with fictional ‘mammothpox' outbreak
More than 350 health emergency experts took part in a two-day simulation looking at how they would deal with 'mammothpox', an invented virus similar to smallpox and mpox that was described as 'lethal and fast-moving'.
In the scenario, called Exercise Polaris, the outbreak occurred when a team of scientists discovered the remains of a woolly mammoth in the frozen Arctic tundra.
Representatives from the countries looked at how they would deal with the first few weeks of the outbreak, according to exercise documents seen by The Independent.
'Mammothpox disease is severe, with a mortality intermediate between Mpox and Smallpox,' according to the papers. 'With modest transmissibility and minimal asymptomatic spread it is controllable', they added, but only with 'effective coordinated responses – similar to SARS or Mpox'.
Participants included Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Iraq, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia Uganda and Ukraine, with additional countries as observers.
Each country was given a 'small piece of the puzzle' to test how they would share information and co-operate in order to contain the spread of the virus, according to The Telegraph.
The newspaper reported that one country was told that an Arctic researcher 'presenting with symptoms of a pox-like illness' had boarded a cruise ship carrying 2,450 passengers and 980 crew.
By the second day of the exercise, participants were told plans to prevent the spread of the virus were being hampered by politics and differing strategies.
While some countries implemented 'strict border controls, banned all international arrivals and restricted internal movement,' the newspaper reported, others maintained 'open borders with minimal restrictions,' relying instead on 'contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine measures'.
Within weeks, ICUs were 'overwhelmed' and health systems struggled to cope across the globe.
The intent of the programme was to see how countries would deal in the event of another worldwide outbreak, following the real-world experience of Covid five years ago.
Exercise Polaris tested the WHO's Global health Emergency Corps, a framework designed to strengthen countries' emergency workforce, coordinate the deployment of surge teams and experts and enhance collaboration between countries.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said: 'This exercise proves that when countries lead and partners connect, the world is better prepared.
'No country can face the next pandemic alone. Exercise Polaris shows that global cooperation is not only possible – it is essential.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
This Morning's Dr Zoe Williams in tears as she urges followers to donate to Gaza aid
This Morning doctor and former Gladiators star Dr Zoe Williams has urged followers to take action and donate as Palestinians die of malnutrition and starvation in a heartfelt post This Morning star Dr Zoe Williams was in tears as she urged followers to donate to trusted organisations that would help provide food, water, medicine and shelter to Palestinians. At least 21 Palestinian children have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past few days - with another 70,000 now suffering malnutrition, medical officials have recently declared. Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Shifa hospital in Gaza City, says a further 900,000 children are having to go without food and have been hit by hunger. World Health Organisation Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN and its humanitarian partners weren't able to deliver any food for nearly 80 days between March and May while Israel's blockade of aid was in place. He added that the resumption of deliveries has been insufficient. Amid the humanitarian crisis, This Morning star Dr Zoe took to her Instagram page to share a muted clip of her tearing up on a train. She wrote over the video: "The sickening, heartbreaking, despicable truth is that for many of these children their fate is now already set... "This is the way starvation works, you reach a point of no return, where no amount of food or medical support can make you healthy again, because the damage to vital organs has already been done. "We keep seeing the numbers who have died so far of starvation but in reality that number can already be multiplied by a big number. Every minute and every hour that passes means children go beyond that point of no return." Dr Zoe also guided followers to trusted organisations in her caption, posting: "Do what you can! And act NOW! 1. Donate to trusted organisations: Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), International Rescue Committee (IRC), All Our Relations. Even small donations can help provide food, water, medicine, and emergency shelter." She added: "2. Advocate for Political Change. Political pressure can influence governments to act or shift policy. You can: Write to your MP demanding: A ceasefire, Access for humanitarian aid, Accountability for human rights violations, Join or support peaceful protests and solidarity movements, Sign verified petitions.." Friends and fans took to the comment section to thank the star for speaking out, with one user writing: "Thank you for using your platform to raise awareness and I pray that a miracle happens to help REVIVE humanity to care." "Utterly heartbreaking, can't sleep at night thinking of those affected, hugs," another posted. One added: "Incomprehensible that not more is being done by those in a position to initiate change. There are no words." More than 100 aid and rights groups have warned of mass starvation in Gaza this week, adding that supplies have been "totally depleted".


Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Weak regulation causing deaths due to contaminated medicines, WHO says
July 24 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Thursday systemic weaknesses in the oversight of the global pharmaceutical supply chain have resulted in medicines formulated with poisonous chemicals claiming lives and compromising the health of patients, mainly children. In a report, jointly released with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the WHO said there have been more than 300 deaths in Africa, Asia and the Pacific since 2022 linked to syrups containing industrial-grade chemicals such as diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. These are often illegally substituted for pharmaceutical-grade ingredients such as propylene glycol, glycerin and sorbitol, used to formulate medicines including cough and paracetamol syrups. The agencies sounded the alarm on the lack of regulatory oversight for makers and distributors of these ingredients, and their marketing through e-commerce sites and social media. The report criticized national regulatory agencies for insufficient quality-control testing, excessive reliance on supplier-issued certificates and an overall failure to ensure traceability. It recommended steps countries could take to mitigate the risk, including making the process of reporting contaminated medicines easier and issuing timely alerts when such ingredients are detected in the supply chain.


Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
Just 7,000 steps a day could be enough to improve your health
Hiyah Zaidi Published July 24, 2025 11:30am Link is copied Comments Think 10,000 steps is too much? Try 7,000 steps a day instead, as new research has suggested that could be enough to boost your brainpower and help protect against a range of different diseases, such as heart disease, dementia, depression and cancer. The target of 10,000 steps a day is thought to have begun as a campaign promoting pedometers in Japan, however research has suggested it could do some good for your health, too. So, what is recommended by experts? (Picture: Getty) The NHS recommends a brisk 10-minute walk a day, which they say has a lot of health benefits. However, the World Health Organisation says we need at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week (2 hours 30 minutes) or 75 minutes (one hour 15 minutes) of vigorous intensity activity a week, which should at least be spread evenly over 4 to 5 days a week. So, 7,000 steps a day may be a realistic and manageable way of hitting those targets and getting the health benefits of walking. Plus, it's free (Picture: Getty) The researchers looked at data from more than 160,000 adults from 57 studies conducted between 2014 to 2025. This type of study is known as a meta-analysis, which analyses different studies to come to an overall conclusion about a topic. The studies were conducted in more than 10 countries, including Australia, UK, US and Japan. The aim was to look at the impact that different daily step counts have on the chance of dying from cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as the chance of developing diseases such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia and depression (Picture: Getty) The researchers found that walking 7,000 steps a day, compared to just 2,000 steps, reduced the risk of death by 47%, which was almost the same benefit as walking 10,000 steps per day. They also found that dementia risk dropped by 38% from walking 7,000 steps a day, and a further 7% from walking 10,000 steps. Risk of type 2 diabetes fell by 22% from walking 10,000 steps a day and reduced to 27% at 12,000 steps. Compared to walking 2,000 steps a day, 7,000 steps reduced the risk of cancer by 6% and depression by 22% (Picture: Getty) Lead author Professor Melody Ding said: 'Aiming for 7,000 steps is a realistic goal based on our findings, which assessed health outcomes in a range of areas that hadn't been looked at before. However, for those who cannot yet achieve 7,000 steps a day, even small increases in step counts, such as increasing from 2000 to 4000 steps a day, are associated with significant health gain. We know daily step count is linked to living longer, but we now also have evidence that walking at least 7,000 steps a day can significantly improve eight major health outcomes - including reducing risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia and depressive symptoms' (Picture: Getty) Now, the researchers are working with the Australian government to use the evidence from this study to inform future updates to physical activity guidelines. Professor Ding said: 'Our research helps to shift the focus from perfection to progress. Even small increases in daily movement can lead to meaningful health improvements.' Experts are calling for future studies to explore how step goals should vary based on age, health status and region, and to include diverse populations and longer-term data to strengthen the evidence (Picture: Getty) This obviously depends on how fast you walk. According to if you walk at an average speed of 3.2mph, or 5.1 km/h, which is around the average speed people walk, 7,000 steps should take around 1 hour and 4 minutes. Someone a little slower, at 2.5 mph will take around 1 hour and 21 minutes, and someone faster who walks at 4mph will take around 50 minutes (Picture: Getty) Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.