It will be difficult to avoid the outbreak of a hypothetical "Disease X," but possible to manage it, Chinese Disease Prevention and Control National Administration Director Wang Hesheng said on Saturday.

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, which took place from January 15-19, the importance of preplanning for the outbreak of a hypothetical "Disease X," which could exceed the coronavirus pandemic by 20 times in terms of the number of victims, was discussed.

"Although the emergence of 'Disease X' is difficult to avoid, it will be possible to prevent and manage [the pandemic]," Wang said during a press conference.

Wang said, citing experts, that the risk of the "Disease X" pandemic continues to increase due to a number of factors, such as accelerating global climate change, expanding human activities and increasing cross-species transmission of pathogens.

On October 26, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that a new pandemic would inevitably arise in the future and the international community should prepare to respond to the threat.

(With UNI inputs)