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The Covid-19 pandemic five years on: Are we safer now?

The harsh reality is that global guard rails have weakened even as the risks of the next pandemic have not.

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A barricade set up to keep people out of a residential compound in Wuhan, China, in April 2020.

A barricade set up to keep people out of a residential compound in Wuhan, China, in April 2020.

PHOTO: AFP

Teo Yik Ying

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As the world’s attention is consumed by geopolitical tensions and economic disputes, a quiet but serious crisis is unfolding in the United States – a

novel strain of H5N1 avian influenza

has begun infecting dairy cattle and humans. 

Previously confined to wild birds and poultry, this strain has now been

detected in dairy cows

in Nevada and Arizona, with human cases emerging among farm workers.

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