MALAYSIA is ready to face any future pandemic that may even be more deadly than Covid-19, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said.

Preparations being done the health sector include facing the ominous-sounding threat known as “Disease X”.

“It is called X because we do not know what the disease is, but the ministry is always prepared for any possibility that may occur in the future.

“The World Health Organization will alert its member countries whenever a new disease epidemic occurs,” she told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

She, however, said that the recently held 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where 154 United Nations members convened alongside health ministers, did not discuss Disease X.

Health experts have warned that the next pandemic – dubbed Disease X – may be more devastating than Covid-19 and could result in the loss of millions more lives compared to Covid-19.

WHO has labelled this “Disease X” because no one knows what the next pandemic will be.

It has recommended the immediate preparation of a vaccine as a quick response, citing the fact that the world had been unprepared when facing Covid-19 in early 2020. – September 25, 2023.