Inside Out | The hard truth about the global coronavirus pandemic: it can’t be fought off by countries working alone
- Scientists around the world are working together on Covid-19 research and possible vaccines
- But they can’t by themselves bring the crisis under control, when the world’s leaders are blaming one another instead of strengthening multilateral cooperation
So far, that high level of cooperation has been notably absent among political leaders, and if we are quickly to bring Covid-19 under control and prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths, that has to change – fast.
But the reality is none of this will help us bring the pandemic under control. And it is a myopic and arrogant politician that casts the first stone. When the dust settles and a comprehensive audit is undertaken of what happened, what went wrong where, and what things could have been done better, many across the world are going to emerge with egg on their faces. As Chad Bown at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics insisted last week, “because nearly everyone is to blame … it is a waste of time for the G20 to point fingers”.
It may be true that the WHO needs to be reformed. It is undoubtedly also true that many countries with well-endowed health care systems have found themselves unforgivably unprepared – lacking systems to track and contain the virus, without enough hospital beds for the sick, lacking protective equipment to keep carers safe. But to obsess about this now and hunt for scapegoats, when lives need urgently to be saved, is only to make matters worse.