Is anything being done to stop another pandemic emerging from China?

A year since the words "novel coronavirus" crept into news headlines, and over 2 million lives have been claimed as a result of the disease – officially termed COVID-19. Moreover, it has permeated every pocket of the planet, morphed into dozens of different strains, shuttered the world economy, overwhelmed health care resources, and rendered millions with unknown long-term ramifications.

"At the moment, there is no safety mechanism, pressure or any strategy coming from the (incoming) Biden administration to ensure that another virus or pathogen" does not come from China, Harry Kazianis, a senior director at the Center for the National Interest, told Fox News. "And we should all be terrified as another coronavirus-like event could truly happen at any time."  Before the onset of COVID-19 late last year, the country was also the presumed origin point for the 1957 Asian flu and the Hong Kong flu in 1968, to the H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) outbreak in 1996 and the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) incursion – triggering a combined death toll well into the millions, as the various contagions tore through populations well beyond China's borders.