EDITORIAL: While there is nothing really surprising about a virus mutating the news of the new variant of the coronavirus came just when the rollout of the vaccine had started and there appeared, finally, some light at the end of this particularly dark tunnel. And that did spook not just governments and citizens, but also international financial markets as investors promptly took refuge under safe haven trades. Everybody, especially the European continent, was quick to suspend travel and freight links with the United Kingdom (UK), where the variant was discovered, but since this finding dates back to September and was made public only now there is every reason to expect that the mutated form of the virus has already spread far and wide and such restrictions will at best only give a temporary sense of security that might not even be real. Even the most conservative estimates put the transmissibility rate of this new strain at something like 56 percent above the original one, while UK authorities believe it spreads 70 percent faster.
If it turns out that it has indeed traveled across the world over the last couple of months, which is very likely given that both airlines and travelers were only too glad when international flights were reopened, then it could quickly wipe out any optimism that was generated by the vaccine. Medical facilities, already reeling from the intense pressure of the second Covid-19 wave across the world, could come under the kind of pressure that less developed countries might not be able to cope with. And it will most certainly deliver the kiss of death to the fragile global economic recovery that has only just begun. All eyes are now on scientists in their laboratories as they test the vaccines on the new form of the virus. Should it prove resistant, much of work of the last 11 months will go waste and it will be at least six more months before another workable vaccine can be developed, which will of course have a very pronounced downward drag on the global economy as it struggles to dip out of one of the worst recessions on record. Some experts and leaders have tried to play down the threat with assurances like it might spread faster but it does not have a higher kill rate. But that will not work at all, especially if calming nerves is the purpose, since the virus is already pretty deadly and all it has to do is spread faster to take more lives and cause more panic.
Surely, the situation would not have been this bad if authorities in the UK had acted in time. It almost beggars belief that they waited so long before letting the rest of the world know of such a significant and dangerous development. Britain was also very late in shutting down sensitive areas during the second wave, just like it caused unnecessary deaths and damage by taking delayed action at the time of the first wave. In fact, this whole pandemic has been made much worse by the antics of right wing leaders with more than a touch of authoritarianism like President Trump in America, President Bolsonaro in Brazil, Prime Minister Orban in Hungary, President Duterte in the Philippines, Prime Minister Modi in India and of course Prime Minister Johnson in the UK. It is a pretty fair argument that the coronavirus would never have spread and mutated so fast if it hadn't been for their mutated, nationalist policies which, for some reason, revolved around downplaying the threat from the virus.
Now the whole world is suffering and if the situation gets much worse it won't only be the people who get infected or die that will pay the price for it. For if the global economy takes another severe hit then social unrest and even famines can erupt on an epic scale. Even after braving the coronavirus for more than a year the world is still not prepared for things to get out of control in this way. Yet that is precisely what can happen if the world continues to stay behind the curve in the matter of containing this virus. For now the best that can be hoped for is that all countries will learn an important lesson from the UK and be far more responsible than before, and that the vaccine now in the market proves effective against any new strains.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
Comments
Comments are closed.