Covid's Lessons Have All Been Forgotten

The vaccines allowed Covid to be treated as an aberration, but we must not forget what it really was: A preview of the kind of planetary challenges that await us

- ANTARA HALDAR

In December 2019, as the world was looking ahead to a new year, a novel virus was quietly spreading in China, having most likely made the leap from animals to humans in a Wuhan "wet market." Soon, the Covid-19 pandemic would bring the world to a grinding halt, forcing billions of people into unprecedented lockdowns and shuttering economies worldwide. Five years on, we are still grappling with the effects of this "gray rhino": A high-probability risk that was nonetheless neglected or ignored.

What did we learn? For starters, the pandemic exposed fundamental flaws in the design of the global economy. In such a tightly interconnected world, the virus was able to spread globally in the space of just a few weeks, and governments, focused on short-term economic goals, were reluctant to do what was necessary to prevent or stop it. While the World Health Organization issued warnings, it lacked the resources or authority to take decisive action. As hospitalisations mounted, not a single healthcare system in the world proved to be a match for the virus.

Moreover, inequality—both between and within countries—fuelled heightened social tensions during lockdowns, exacerbating class and gender struggles, but also conflict between the Global North and South. In the wake of the vaccine rollout, wealthier countries hoarded doses while billions of people in poorer countries had to wait months or even years for access.