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Inside Out | Why a Covid-19 audit must be a priority for Hong Kong and the world
- A new book by Bill Gates argues that if governments had acted more quickly to contain the outbreak, millions of lives could have been saved
- While Hong Kong needs to reevaluate the zero-Covid strategy that served it well in 2021, globally governments must rethink ‘go-it-alone’ approaches
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As John Lee Ka-chiu prepares to take the helm as Hong Kong’s fifth chief executive, the time is ripe for an audit or two. Most important will be what was done right, and what wrong, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and what to do going forward.
Our own audit needs to coincide with an audit worldwide. Avoiding a repeat of the tragedy of the past two years must be a global priority.
It may take years to assess the harm done to lives and livelihoods, but we already know the cost has been stupendous – 517 million Covid-19 cases worldwide, and a new estimate from the World Health Organization of 14.9 million deaths.
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Since it is inevitable that new pathogens will emerge, the key will not be to prevent them, but to respond quickly and comprehensively enough to prevent an outbreak becoming a pandemic.
As Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates concludes in a newly released book, succinctly but unimaginatively titled How to Prevent the Next Pandemic, the answer lies in three broad rules: make and deliver better tools, improve disease monitoring, and strengthen our health systems.
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The headline imperatives are to move fast and ensure global cooperation – not a small ask, in view of the current dysfunctional reluctance to cooperate internationally on almost anything.
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