Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Front Burner

As Wuhan virus spreads, fears about pandemic readiness

Today on Front Burner, we talk to a doctor who studies infectious disease to get the rundown about a mysterious new coronavirus coming out of China — and what it shows us about humanity’s readiness to deal with the next pandemic that’s sure to come our way.
CBC News ·
A woman and a child wearing protective masks walk toward check-in counters at Daxing international airport in Beijing on Jan. 21, 2020. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images)

A new virus spreading out of China has caught the attention of infectious disease experts around the world. That's because it bears some strong similarities to SARS, the respiratory disease that killed hundreds of people including 44 Canadians in 2003. Whether this new coronavirus turns out to be more or less dangerous than SARS, experts say we need to better prepare for pandemics because they are coming for us — ready or not. Today on Front Burner, we talk to Dr. Kamran Khan, who heads up a medical data analytics firm that's trying to set up an early warning system for infectious diseases so doctors like him can spread information about pandemics faster than diseases can spread themselves.

Subscribe to Front Burner on your favourite podcast app.