The situation we are staring at right now is unquestionably a global crisis. Leaders have equated it to a war, and to be fair, the world has not seen a similar systematic shock since 1945.

The only difference here is that the coronavirus pandemic is worse than war because the enemy is faceless and our armed forces cannot fight it. To win this war against the coronavirus we need to fight as a team.

We need to respect the lockdown, follow instructions and help each other in every possible way. To win this war against the coronavirus, we need to put up a united front.

Every day, more and more people in India are testing positive to the coronavirus. There are families who have lost their loved ones. And then there are those who are praying for their family members to return safely from hospitals. 
 
WATCH:&nbsp;India needs to be united to fight coronavirus outbreak

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-wuhan-coronavirus-why-india-needs-to-stay-united-288561/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

​​​​​​India is under lockdown, our economy has been hit. Livelihoods are at stake, our government is trying very very hard to limit the damage of the pandemic.

Now is not the time to put up negative posts on social media and tweet 'India-- welcome to Kashmir',&nbsp; 
or question - 'how virus can kill a nation without a soul'.?

Every time a government passes a policy, there is a section of people who support it and there are those who oppose it.

It is true across all countries and policies. India's move to abrogate Article 370 was no different - some lauded the Modi government, some didn't.

You are absolutely entitled to have your opinion, no matter which side of the aisle you stand on, but democracy also comes with great responsibility.

Please understand, there is time for everything. And now is not the time to spew hate. This lockdown is not easy, but it is the need of the hour. We cannot be making tit-for-tat comments right now. These trying times called for unity.

Unlike what happened during the world wars, no one is asking you to leave your daily jobs and head to the trenches,&nbsp; 
or nurse the wounded at medical facilities. And the only thing you are being asked to do right now is to be a little responsible.

Be a little more empathetic, don't be bitter, don't spread, don't be toxic.

The situation we are staring at right now is unquestionably a global crisis. Leaders have equated it to a war, and to be fair, the world has not seen a similar systematic shock since 1945.

The situation we are staring at right now is unquestionably a global crisis. Leaders have equated it to a war, and to be fair, the world has not seen a similar systematic shock since 1945. The only difference here is that the coronavirus pandemic is worse than war because the enemy is faceless and our armed forces cannot fight it. To win this war against the coronavirus we need to fight as a team. We need to respect the lockdown, follow instructions and help each other in every possible way. To win this war against the coronavirus, we need to put up a united front. Every day, more and more people in India are testing positive to the coronavirus. There are families who have lost their loved ones. And then there are those who are praying for their family members to return safely from hospitals. WATCH: India needs to be united to fight coronavirus outbreak × India is under lockdown, our economy has been hit. Livelihoods are at stake, our government is trying very very hard to limit the damage of the pandemic. Now is not the time to put up negative posts on social media and tweet 'India-- welcome to Kashmir', or question - 'how virus can kill a nation without a soul'.? Every time a government passes a policy, there is a section of people who support it and there are those who oppose it. It is true across all countries and policies. India's move to abrogate Article 370 was no different - some lauded the Modi government, some didn't. You are absolutely entitled to have your opinion, no matter which side of the aisle you stand on, but democracy also comes with great responsibility. Please understand, there is time for everything. And now is not the time to spew hate. This lockdown is not easy, but it is the need of the hour. We cannot be making tit-for-tat comments right now. These trying times called for unity. Unlike what happened during the world wars, no one is asking you to leave your daily jobs and head to the trenches, or nurse the wounded at medical facilities. And the only thing you are being asked to do right now is to be a little responsible. Be a little more empathetic, don't be bitter, don't spread, don't be toxic.

Why does India need to stay united amid coronavirus mayhem ?

The World Health Organisation is under scanner. It is being criticised for 'going slow' during the coronavirus outbreak. WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma Upadhyay tells you why WHO's response to this pandemic leaves a lot to be desired on WION Edit.

WION Edit: Wuhan Coronavirus: Is WHO doing enough?

The World Health Organization has said that the United States could now be emerging as the new epicenter of the coronavirus. In the last 24 hours, the US has recorded 11,000 fresh cases and more than 200 people have lost their lives.

Coronavirus infected cases in US near 56,000

With the number of coronavirus cases rising rapidly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the United States could become the next epicentre of the pandemic. Out of the new cases recorded in the last 24 hours, 40 per cent came from the United States alone.

Nearly 6,000 infected & over 800 dead in United States

India has seen a sudden rise in the Coronavirus cases with the total number of confirmed cases rising to 536. The death toll in the country now stands at 11. The latest death was reported in Tamil Nadu. Watch report:

Coronavirus cases in India rise to 536, Death toll stand at 11

When a pre-schooler Harry was told his birthday party would be cancelled due to coronavirus lockdown, a drama group came to the rescue. Using video chat app Zoom, Harry got his "Frozen" celebration with all his friends and family watching via a multiscreen - and he even had "happy birthday" sung to him in unison.

WION Dispatch: Global life moves online amid coronavirus outbreak

Pakistan remains under lockdown with no domestic or international flights taking of or landing. The biggest challenge for the government are people who don't want to follow quarantine guidelines. Tableeghi Jamaat went ahead for congregation despite warning.

Pakistan: Tableeghi Jamaat meet took place despite warning

UK's Prince Charles, the first in line for the throne, has tested positive for coronavirus. The Prince has "displaying mild symptoms "but otherwise remains in good health", a spokesman at Clarence House stated. The Prince is 71 years old and his wife Camilla too has tested but the spokesman stated that the Duchess of Cornwall has tested negative.

UK's Prince Charles tests positive of coronavirus

By Nader Habibi

Policymakers in countries where there are severe outbreaks of COVID-19 are doing what they can to slow the spread and “flatten the curve.” But so far, there hasn’t been much global coordination, raising the risk of a second wave of contamination even after individual countries halt the virus’ advance.

That’s the dilemma facing China and South Korea right now. Both countries appear to have halted or slowed the internal spread of the new coronavirus and are beginning to worry about contaminated travelers from abroad setting off a new outbreak – including by their own citizens returning home.

In other words, as long as the virus is present in any country, it can reenter those that have managed to slow it down – or even ones that eventually eradicate it.

As an economist, I worry that efforts to prevent a second wave of contagion will prompt countries to put up more borders to international travel and trade. This would compound and prolong the adverse economic impact.

That’s why I believe the only effective long-term solution against the coronavirus is a global solution – which requires a coordinated response.

An uncoordinated mess 
 
Dozens of countries are taking a variety of strong measures to fight the spread of the new coronavirus, from social distancing and mass quarantines to severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods.

But there’s been little or no coordination, the timing has varied considerably and the piecemeal manner in which restrictions have been put in place demonstrates that lessons are not being shared, which has made it harder to defeat the virus. Moreover, the lack of coordination among countries when imposing travel bans has led to diplomatic tensions that will only make matters worse, such as when the Trump administration banned flights from Europe without consulting longstanding allies.

Even in the hunt for a vaccine there is a clear lack of international coordination, which can speed up the process. Furthermore, most countries seem to be adopting a nationalistic rather than a collaborative approach that could limit a potential vaccine’s effectiveness in ending the pandemic, with the possibility that each country will favor its own citizens over others.

While these efforts are slowing the spread of the coronavirus in some places, it continues to worsen in others such as the U.S., Europe and Iran, which demonstrate that they are not enough to eradicate the threat completely. And that means successful countries will have to impose or continue severe and costly constraints on international travel – and those that have managed to avoid an outbreak, such as Russia, must continue to keep their restrictions in place. In Russia’s case, closing border crossings to China has severely hurt trade as well.

If a large number of countries impose such restrictions simultaneously, everyone suffers, adding to the already high economic costs of the coronavirus with no end in sight.

Working together 
 
Right now, I believe the world needs to coordinate in three key ways:

Agree on a two-week global lockdown across all countries, even those not severely affected by COVID-19. Several countries are currently imposing such mass quarantines, with mixed success. A global, synchronized lockdown would be more effective.

The World Health Organization should lead global efforts to find an effective vaccine and treatments for COVID-19, ensuring they are widely available. The group could help disseminate research findings quickly and coordinate activities to avoid duplication. Consequently this would reduce the amount of time it takes to find a pharmaceutical solution.

Restrictions on international travel and trade should be implemented in cooperation with other countries. Rather than nationalistic restrictions that benefit one country at the expense of others, the cost of the needed restrictions could be distributed among all trade partners in a fair manner that motivates all governments to participate in these painful economic measures.

Global coordination has worked well in past crises like this one. For example, in 2014, President Barack Obama took the lead in the global fight against the Ebola virus, which affected several countries in Africa. American leadership played a crucial role in mobilizing and coordinating the global fight that ultimately contained the epidemic.

That’s the kind of leadership the world needs right now. Surprisingly, the strongest call for global coordination against COVID-19 has come from Saudi Arabia, which currently leads the Group of 20 largest economies, instead of the U.S., China or the European Union.

Although there’s been no commitment so far to attend this virtual meeting, I hope the political leaders of the world’s largest economies accept this invitation. A coordinated response to this pandemic cannot come too soon.

(Nader Habibi is Henry J. Leir Professor of Practice in Economics of the Middle East, Brandeis University)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-defeating-coronavirus-in-one-country-isnt-enough-there-needs-to-be-a-coordinated-global-strategy-134474">original article</a>)

By Nader Habibi Policymakers in countries where there are severe outbreaks of COVID-19 are doing what they can to slow the spread and “flatten the curve.” But so far, there hasn’t been much global coordination, raising the risk of a second wave of contamination even after individual countries halt the virus’ advance.

By Nader Habibi Policymakers in countries where there are severe outbreaks of COVID-19 are doing what they can to slow the spread and “flatten the curve.” But so far, there hasn’t been much global coordination, raising the risk of a second wave of contamination even after individual countries halt the virus’ advance. That’s the dilemma facing China and South Korea right now. Both countries appear to have halted or slowed the internal spread of the new coronavirus and are beginning to worry about contaminated travelers from abroad setting off a new outbreak – including by their own citizens returning home. In other words, as long as the virus is present in any country, it can reenter those that have managed to slow it down – or even ones that eventually eradicate it. As an economist, I worry that efforts to prevent a second wave of contagion will prompt countries to put up more borders to international travel and trade. This would compound and prolong the adverse economic impact. That’s why I believe the only effective long-term solution against the coronavirus is a global solution – which requires a coordinated response. An uncoordinated mess Dozens of countries are taking a variety of strong measures to fight the spread of the new coronavirus, from social distancing and mass quarantines to severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods. But there’s been little or no coordination, the timing has varied considerably and the piecemeal manner in which restrictions have been put in place demonstrates that lessons are not being shared, which has made it harder to defeat the virus. Moreover, the lack of coordination among countries when imposing travel bans has led to diplomatic tensions that will only make matters worse, such as when the Trump administration banned flights from Europe without consulting longstanding allies. Even in the hunt for a vaccine there is a clear lack of international coordination, which can speed up the process. Furthermore, most countries seem to be adopting a nationalistic rather than a collaborative approach that could limit a potential vaccine’s effectiveness in ending the pandemic, with the possibility that each country will favor its own citizens over others. While these efforts are slowing the spread of the coronavirus in some places, it continues to worsen in others such as the U.S., Europe and Iran, which demonstrate that they are not enough to eradicate the threat completely. And that means successful countries will have to impose or continue severe and costly constraints on international travel – and those that have managed to avoid an outbreak, such as Russia, must continue to keep their restrictions in place. In Russia’s case, closing border crossings to China has severely hurt trade as well. If a large number of countries impose such restrictions simultaneously, everyone suffers, adding to the already high economic costs of the coronavirus with no end in sight. Working together Right now, I believe the world needs to coordinate in three key ways: Agree on a two-week global lockdown across all countries, even those not severely affected by COVID-19. Several countries are currently imposing such mass quarantines, with mixed success. A global, synchronized lockdown would be more effective. The World Health Organization should lead global efforts to find an effective vaccine and treatments for COVID-19, ensuring they are widely available. The group could help disseminate research findings quickly and coordinate activities to avoid duplication. Consequently this would reduce the amount of time it takes to find a pharmaceutical solution. Restrictions on international travel and trade should be implemented in cooperation with other countries. Rather than nationalistic restrictions that benefit one country at the expense of others, the cost of the needed restrictions could be distributed among all trade partners in a fair manner that motivates all governments to participate in these painful economic measures. Global coordination has worked well in past crises like this one. For example, in 2014, President Barack Obama took the lead in the global fight against the Ebola virus, which affected several countries in Africa. American leadership played a crucial role in mobilizing and coordinating the global fight that ultimately contained the epidemic. That’s the kind of leadership the world needs right now. Surprisingly, the strongest call for global coordination against COVID-19 has come from Saudi Arabia, which currently leads the Group of 20 largest economies, instead of the U.S., China or the European Union. Although there’s been no commitment so far to attend this virtual meeting, I hope the political leaders of the world’s largest economies accept this invitation. A coordinated response to this pandemic cannot come too soon. (Nader Habibi is Henry J. Leir Professor of Practice in Economics of the Middle East, Brandeis University) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article)

There needs to be a coordinated global strategy to defeat coronavirus

The coronavirus has spread across 194 countries and territories around the world. The dangers, as well as precautions, have been covered adequately by all government communications/media/publications, as well as social media.

While there is adequate awareness, but there is also a varying degree of seriousness in dealing with the pandemic, as many segments of society chose to put individual preferences above potentially most devastating threat that looms the world.&nbsp;

The world meter indicates over 4,23,000 cases of coronavirus with 18296 deaths and 107,199 recoveries. The WHO puts the morbidity rate at 3.4 per cent, but the biggest danger being faced by mankind is the exponential rise in coronavirus cases due to community transfers.

It is necessary to understand the seriousness in adopting the safety measures being communicated by government agencies through various mediums. &nbsp;

The Epicenters&nbsp;

China is accused to have done global damage by hiding crucial timely information about the pandemic from the rest of the world. Wuhan, believed to be the origin and initial epicentre of the disease, was late in quarantining affected people and could not prevent community transfer.&nbsp;

China was quick to declare that it has conquered the disease with reporting 73,159 recovered cases, but 78 fresh cases, seven fresh deaths and 4735 active cases, mitigate the claim. The world will continue to accuse China for hiding the pandemic, with two legal notices already filed against it.&nbsp;

Italy (with 69176 cases and 6820 deaths) is another example of taking the disease lightly initially and trying to control it with all possible measures later. WHO warns USA to be next epicenter of COVID-19 having 54916 cases confirmed, out of which there are more than 25000 cases in New York. The US faces stalemate over $2 trillion allocations for combating the pandemic. The same is the case with South Korea and Japan.&nbsp;

The only advantage these countries enjoy is that they have much less population in comparison to countries like India and relatively better medical capacities per capita population to control. Iran continues to struggle with an initial spurt of carelessness and later with inadequate capacity. It needs to be noted that in most western countries the testing in terms of the percentage of the population has been fairly high; hence, the magnitude of the problem is better identified. &nbsp;

Taiwan's Success in Combatting Covid-19

Taiwan, with 23 million people, just off the coast of China, was predicted to have the second-highest 'importation risk' by any country with over 850,000 of its citizens residing and working in mainland China and heavy rush of travellers to and from China. Considering the risk, having only 199 cases with two deaths and no new cases so far is creditable. Its success is attributed to early action by National Health Command Center (NHCC) with a branch focusing on large outbreak responses and acting as a central command post for direct, transparent communications, which was established after the SARS outbreak. Their actions included border control from the air and sea, identifying cases, quarantine of suspicious cases, managing resource allocation, daily press briefings, identifying false information and formulating economic policies to relieve families and businesses. Maximum use of ‘Big Data’ and technology was done to identify travellers, patients and suspects, and quarantining them. The support of the population was another major factor.&nbsp;

What Should be India's Next Response?

India has the second-largest population in the world with over 130 billion people. While there is no need to panic with 536 cases identified and 10 deaths so far, but as a developing country, its capacity to isolate communities is the biggest challenge in the world, which cannot be combatted without public participation.&nbsp;

The numbers identified so far are limited, due to limited testing facilities available in the country, which are being increased gradually. India needs to ensure not to enter into community spread (next stage) of COVID19 outbreak, otherwise, speed of infection will overtake the speed of capacity building of the country to handle it.&nbsp;

Although a lot is being done by the central and state governments, the biggest challenge is to convince the segments of the society, who chose to take it lightly, by superimposing personal priorities over public health. The 21-day lockdown of the complete country announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24, 2020, is the right step to break the chain of infection and flatten the upward curve of growing cases in India.&nbsp;

India does not have the luxury of a manageable population, and is yet to have the full capacity to deal with the third stage of the pandemic; hence the best option available is to quarantine and social distancing.

The partnership of people and the private sector for capacity building is required. Going by the example of Taiwan, the data of every citizen with the government is necessary to counter such emergencies better. India needs to take&nbsp;the spirit of ‘Janata Curfew’ forward with much more vigour, enthusiasm and discipline.&nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp;

The coronavirus has spread across 194 countries and territories around the world. The dangers, as well as precautions, have been covered adequately by all government communications/media/publications, as well as social media.

The coronavirus has spread across 194 countries and territories around the world. The dangers, as well as precautions, have been covered adequately by all government communications/media/publications, as well as social media. While there is adequate awareness, but there is also a varying degree of seriousness in dealing with the pandemic, as many segments of society chose to put individual preferences above potentially most devastating threat that looms the world. The world meter indicates over 4,23,000 cases of coronavirus with 18296 deaths and 107,199 recoveries. The WHO puts the morbidity rate at 3.4 per cent, but the biggest danger being faced by mankind is the exponential rise in coronavirus cases due to community transfers. It is necessary to understand the seriousness in adopting the safety measures being communicated by government agencies through various mediums. The Epicenters China is accused to have done global damage by hiding crucial timely information about the pandemic from the rest of the world. Wuhan, believed to be the origin and initial epicentre of the disease, was late in quarantining affected people and could not prevent community transfer. China was quick to declare that it has conquered the disease with reporting 73,159 recovered cases, but 78 fresh cases, seven fresh deaths and 4735 active cases, mitigate the claim. The world will continue to accuse China for hiding the pandemic, with two legal notices already filed against it. Italy (with 69176 cases and 6820 deaths) is another example of taking the disease lightly initially and trying to control it with all possible measures later. WHO warns USA to be next epicenter of COVID-19 having 54916 cases confirmed, out of which there are more than 25000 cases in New York. The US faces stalemate over $2 trillion allocations for combating the pandemic. The same is the case with South Korea and Japan. The only advantage these countries enjoy is that they have much less population in comparison to countries like India and relatively better medical capacities per capita population to control. Iran continues to struggle with an initial spurt of carelessness and later with inadequate capacity. It needs to be noted that in most western countries the testing in terms of the percentage of the population has been fairly high; hence, the magnitude of the problem is better identified. Taiwan's Success in Combatting Covid-19 Taiwan, with 23 million people, just off the coast of China, was predicted to have the second-highest 'importation risk' by any country with over 850,000 of its citizens residing and working in mainland China and heavy rush of travellers to and from China. Considering the risk, having only 199 cases with two deaths and no new cases so far is creditable. Its success is attributed to early action by National Health Command Center (NHCC) with a branch focusing on large outbreak responses and acting as a central command post for direct, transparent communications, which was established after the SARS outbreak. Their actions included border control from the air and sea, identifying cases, quarantine of suspicious cases, managing resource allocation, daily press briefings, identifying false information and formulating economic policies to relieve families and businesses. Maximum use of ‘Big Data’ and technology was done to identify travellers, patients and suspects, and quarantining them. The support of the population was another major factor. What Should be India's Next Response? India has the second-largest population in the world with over 130 billion people. While there is no need to panic with 536 cases identified and 10 deaths so far, but as a developing country, its capacity to isolate communities is the biggest challenge in the world, which cannot be combatted without public participation. The numbers identified so far are limited, due to limited testing facilities available in the country, which are being increased gradually. India needs to ensure not to enter into community spread (next stage) of COVID19 outbreak, otherwise, speed of infection will overtake the speed of capacity building of the country to handle it. Although a lot is being done by the central and state governments, the biggest challenge is to convince the segments of the society, who chose to take it lightly, by superimposing personal priorities over public health. The 21-day lockdown of the complete country announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24, 2020, is the right step to break the chain of infection and flatten the upward curve of growing cases in India. India does not have the luxury of a manageable population, and is yet to have the full capacity to deal with the third stage of the pandemic; hence the best option available is to quarantine and social distancing. The partnership of people and the private sector for capacity building is required. Going by the example of Taiwan, the data of every citizen with the government is necessary to counter such emergencies better. India needs to take the spirit of ‘Janata Curfew’ forward with much more vigour, enthusiasm and discipline. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Coronavirus outbreak: Lockdown and beyond - a looming crisis

China said that it will be lifting restrictions in Wuhan after almost 2 months of lockdown. In the last 24 hours, China has not reported even a single local transmission case.

China lifts lockdown in Hubei province | COVID-19 | Wuhan Coronavirus

Indiscriminate in targeting its victims, the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) casts a very different light on the need to enforce international law governing wars as well as human and minority rights. It exposes the needs of tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons in destitute camps in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Bangladesh and shantytowns across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

It also puts issues of basic rights, poverty, homelessness, and equitable income distribution from a different perspective. Refugees, displaced persons, and embattled minorities that have been for the longest time viewed as humanitarian or political problems that needed to be contained and kept beyond one’s borders. now constitute a global public health hazard.

The public health hazard is enhanced by punitive, crippling sanctions and blockades designed to impose the will of one country on another with little measurable effect beyond economic degradation, making often weak health systems even more feeble.

In Iran, one of the world’s hardest-hit countries, and the Gaza Strip, that reported its first infections in recent days, the hazard is enhanced not only by corruption and mismanagement but also punitive and crippling sanctions and blockades designed to impose the will of one country on another with little measurable effect beyond economic degradation and making often weak health systems even more feeble.

It’s a hazard that raises the threat level not only in the current pandemic that has already wreaked havoc on lives, economies, and social life, but also in future ones.

“The storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive — but we will inhabit a different world,” predicted historian Yuval Noah Harari.

“Pandemics are a part of biologic history. They reshape economics, they reshape sociology,” added Mike Leavitt, a former Republican US Secretary of Health and Human Services and Governor of Utah.

Writer and activist Susan Sontag noted some four decades ago that “illness as a metaphor for political disorder is one of the oldest notions of political philosophy.”

By implication, Harari and Leavitt and Sontag suggest that pandemics create opportunities to rethink political, economic, and social relations. That may be what is needed but the odds are against it.

More likely is that a different world will mostly be shaped by elements of reactive measures taken by governments across the globe who failed to initially take the coronavirus seriously on day one—Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan being notable exceptions.

Leaving aside the fundamental issues of striking a balance between privacy and surveillance, those reactive actions and procedures are likely to amount to band-aids rather than lessons learned. They will not lead to a fundamental rethinking of issues that pose a major threat to millions of lives far beyond the boundaries of refugee camps and shantytowns. And they are unlikely to result in the social cohesion needed to confront the inevitable next crisis.

The coronavirus also spotlights the inherent threat posed by the lack of transparency and the politicization of a global health crisis by civilizationalist and illiberal, authoritarian or autocratic leaders. Such leaders, including US President Donald J. Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Egyptian General-turned-President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Turkey’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who prioritize domestic political and geopolitical gain and economic preservation rather than timely public health policy and simple decency and humanity.

Even though senior government officials across the globe have been infected, it’s the hundreds of thousands of victims of the coronavirus and the hundreds of millions whose social and economic lives have been disrupted that pay the price of delayed and inadequate responses.

“Sanctions are the number one cause of Iran’s limited access to medicine and other basic resources. These pressures are severely compounded during this global health crisis and are felt acutely in the day-to-day lives of Iranian citizens . . . Just as outbound travel has been suspended, the import of aid coming into Iran is limited, if at all, furthering the sense that even when dealing with a concern that affects the whole world, Iranians are largely on their own,” reflected comparative literature PhD candidate Donna Honarpisheh from self-isolation during a family visit to Shiraz.

The fact that a contagious health hazard in one country threatens public health worldwide, makes ensuring the universal existence of robust national healthcare systems a global concern.

The fact that a contagious health hazard in one country potentially threatens public health worldwide, makes ensuring the universal existence of robust national healthcare systems a global rather than a national concern.

Prioritising politics rather than common sense self-preservation that fails to strike a balance between humanity, global public health, and national security is likely to harden positions rather than create opportunities for conflict resolution.

As a result, Iran’s isolation and Gaza’s blockade by Israel and Egypt for the past 13 years are likely to be reflected in longer-term Iranian and Palestinian political wrath and other hostile attitudes towards the outside world.

The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar – the only countries to have come to Iran’s aid – were among the few in the international community to recognize that how the world handles the crisis has consequences that go far beyond healthcare.

That is true even if the UAE and Kuwait acted to ensure that they would not be targets in any future US-Iranian confrontation. Whereas Qatar honoured its relations with Iran since Tehran provides crucial logistical support, enabling Doha to withstand the almost three-year-old UAE-Saudi-led economic and diplomatic boycott of the Gulf state.

Adding to the woes of Iran, like other countries with governments that are untransparent or at best economical with the truth, is the fact that the regime’s trust deficit complicates getting public compliance with extraordinary measures and raises the specter of protests at a time of quarantines and social distancing.

Egyptian authorities arrested four prominent women in recent days for protesting in demand of the release of prisoners as a healthcare measure. Hundreds of Egyptians reportedly attempted to storm public laboratories to obtain a coronavirus test.

The locked-down Philippines capital of Manila is awash with rumours of food shortages and fears of rioting and looting.

It’s at best a matter of time before the human carnage hits camps for refugees and displaced persons across the Middle East and in Asia and Africa as well as countries like Venezuela that have failing health systems as a result of mismanagement and corruption. All failures are compounded by sanctions.

“Millions of conflict-affected people are living in cramped refugee and displacement sites with desperately poor hygiene and sanitation facilities. There will be carnage when the virus reaches parts of Syria, Yemen, and Venezuela where hospitals have been demolished and health systems have collapsed,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Yemen already knows the consequences. It suffered in 2017 a dramatic surge of cholera, a disease that had been virtually eradicated from the planet.

The question is not only what happens when disease and death on a large scale or food shortages and/or famine hit the world’s most vulnerable holed up in inhuman conditions with nothing more to lose.

It is also whether governments and elites have the foresight and political will to build a new world order that is not only equitable but also creates the political, economic, and social conditions for the management of future pandemics at a potentially lower social and economic cost for all.

That may be a tall order in a world dominated by civilizational and nationalist leaders whose primary concern are not ensuring robust structures capable of fighting indiscriminate global threats but short-term political gain, self-aggrandizement, the settling of political scores, and narrow visions of ethnic or religious supremacy.

It’s an approach that adds to already mounting threats of increased political instability and violence as well as migration in magnitudes that could dwarf the world’s current problem of coping with large-scale dislocation. 
 
(The article was first published on<a href="https://insidearabia.com/refugees-and-shantytowns-in-mena-and-beyond-imperil-global-public-health/"> Inside Arabia</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

&nbsp;

Indiscriminate in targeting its victims, the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) casts a very different light on the need to enforce international law governing wars as well as human and minority rights.

Indiscriminate in targeting its victims, the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) casts a very different light on the need to enforce international law governing wars as well as human and minority rights. It exposes the needs of tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons in destitute camps in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Bangladesh and shantytowns across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It also puts issues of basic rights, poverty, homelessness, and equitable income distribution from a different perspective. Refugees, displaced persons, and embattled minorities that have been for the longest time viewed as humanitarian or political problems that needed to be contained and kept beyond one’s borders. now constitute a global public health hazard. The public health hazard is enhanced by punitive, crippling sanctions and blockades designed to impose the will of one country on another with little measurable effect beyond economic degradation, making often weak health systems even more feeble. In Iran, one of the world’s hardest-hit countries, and the Gaza Strip, that reported its first infections in recent days, the hazard is enhanced not only by corruption and mismanagement but also punitive and crippling sanctions and blockades designed to impose the will of one country on another with little measurable effect beyond economic degradation and making often weak health systems even more feeble. It’s a hazard that raises the threat level not only in the current pandemic that has already wreaked havoc on lives, economies, and social life, but also in future ones. “The storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive — but we will inhabit a different world,” predicted historian Yuval Noah Harari. “Pandemics are a part of biologic history. They reshape economics, they reshape sociology,” added Mike Leavitt, a former Republican US Secretary of Health and Human Services and Governor of Utah. Writer and activist Susan Sontag noted some four decades ago that “illness as a metaphor for political disorder is one of the oldest notions of political philosophy.” By implication, Harari and Leavitt and Sontag suggest that pandemics create opportunities to rethink political, economic, and social relations. That may be what is needed but the odds are against it. More likely is that a different world will mostly be shaped by elements of reactive measures taken by governments across the globe who failed to initially take the coronavirus seriously on day one—Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan being notable exceptions. Leaving aside the fundamental issues of striking a balance between privacy and surveillance, those reactive actions and procedures are likely to amount to band-aids rather than lessons learned. They will not lead to a fundamental rethinking of issues that pose a major threat to millions of lives far beyond the boundaries of refugee camps and shantytowns. And they are unlikely to result in the social cohesion needed to confront the inevitable next crisis. The coronavirus also spotlights the inherent threat posed by the lack of transparency and the politicization of a global health crisis by civilizationalist and illiberal, authoritarian or autocratic leaders. Such leaders, including US President Donald J. Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Egyptian General-turned-President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Turkey’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who prioritize domestic political and geopolitical gain and economic preservation rather than timely public health policy and simple decency and humanity. Even though senior government officials across the globe have been infected, it’s the hundreds of thousands of victims of the coronavirus and the hundreds of millions whose social and economic lives have been disrupted that pay the price of delayed and inadequate responses. “Sanctions are the number one cause of Iran’s limited access to medicine and other basic resources. These pressures are severely compounded during this global health crisis and are felt acutely in the day-to-day lives of Iranian citizens . . . Just as outbound travel has been suspended, the import of aid coming into Iran is limited, if at all, furthering the sense that even when dealing with a concern that affects the whole world, Iranians are largely on their own,” reflected comparative literature PhD candidate Donna Honarpisheh from self-isolation during a family visit to Shiraz. The fact that a contagious health hazard in one country threatens public health worldwide, makes ensuring the universal existence of robust national healthcare systems a global concern. The fact that a contagious health hazard in one country potentially threatens public health worldwide, makes ensuring the universal existence of robust national healthcare systems a global rather than a national concern. Prioritising politics rather than common sense self-preservation that fails to strike a balance between humanity, global public health, and national security is likely to harden positions rather than create opportunities for conflict resolution. As a result, Iran’s isolation and Gaza’s blockade by Israel and Egypt for the past 13 years are likely to be reflected in longer-term Iranian and Palestinian political wrath and other hostile attitudes towards the outside world. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar – the only countries to have come to Iran’s aid – were among the few in the international community to recognize that how the world handles the crisis has consequences that go far beyond healthcare. That is true even if the UAE and Kuwait acted to ensure that they would not be targets in any future US-Iranian confrontation. Whereas Qatar honoured its relations with Iran since Tehran provides crucial logistical support, enabling Doha to withstand the almost three-year-old UAE-Saudi-led economic and diplomatic boycott of the Gulf state. Adding to the woes of Iran, like other countries with governments that are untransparent or at best economical with the truth, is the fact that the regime’s trust deficit complicates getting public compliance with extraordinary measures and raises the specter of protests at a time of quarantines and social distancing. Egyptian authorities arrested four prominent women in recent days for protesting in demand of the release of prisoners as a healthcare measure. Hundreds of Egyptians reportedly attempted to storm public laboratories to obtain a coronavirus test. The locked-down Philippines capital of Manila is awash with rumours of food shortages and fears of rioting and looting. It’s at best a matter of time before the human carnage hits camps for refugees and displaced persons across the Middle East and in Asia and Africa as well as countries like Venezuela that have failing health systems as a result of mismanagement and corruption. All failures are compounded by sanctions. “Millions of conflict-affected people are living in cramped refugee and displacement sites with desperately poor hygiene and sanitation facilities. There will be carnage when the virus reaches parts of Syria, Yemen, and Venezuela where hospitals have been demolished and health systems have collapsed,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Yemen already knows the consequences. It suffered in 2017 a dramatic surge of cholera, a disease that had been virtually eradicated from the planet. The question is not only what happens when disease and death on a large scale or food shortages and/or famine hit the world’s most vulnerable holed up in inhuman conditions with nothing more to lose. It is also whether governments and elites have the foresight and political will to build a new world order that is not only equitable but also creates the political, economic, and social conditions for the management of future pandemics at a potentially lower social and economic cost for all. That may be a tall order in a world dominated by civilizational and nationalist leaders whose primary concern are not ensuring robust structures capable of fighting indiscriminate global threats but short-term political gain, self-aggrandizement, the settling of political scores, and narrow visions of ethnic or religious supremacy. It’s an approach that adds to already mounting threats of increased political instability and violence as well as migration in magnitudes that could dwarf the world’s current problem of coping with large-scale dislocation. (The article was first published on Inside Arabia) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Refugees could become the worst victims of coronavirus pandemic

South Korea has recorded 76 new coronavirus new cases in the last 24 hours bringing the total to little over 9,000. Watch report:

WION Ground Report: South Korea records 76 new coronavirus cases

China's telecom companies have lost 21 million users after the Coronavirus outbreak. This revelation has lead to a claim - China is downplaying its number of victims. Is this claim true? WION's Palki Sharma assesses.

Gravitas: Wuhan Coronavirus, is China downplaying the number of victims?

China reported 78 new cases of the deadly coronavirus on Tuesday, with the vast majority brought in from overseas as fears rise of a second wave of infections. The first new case in nearly a week was also reported in Wuhan -- the epicentre where the virus emerged last year -- along with three other local infections elsewhere in the country.

China reported 78 new cases of the deadly coronavirus on Tuesday, with the vast majority brought in from overseas as fears rise of a second wave of infections. The first new case in nearly a week was also reported in Wuhan -- the epicentre where the virus emerged last year -- along with three other local infections elsewhere in the country. Seven more people died, the National Health Commission said, all in Wuhan. But at 74, the imported cases confirmed Tuesday were the highest since officials started reporting the data at the beginning of March, and nearly double those reported Monday. × In recent days almost all the new infections in China have been brought in from overseas, and Beijing is growing increasingly anxious about an influx just as it appeared to be bringing the country's outbreak under control. As nations across the globe battle to contain the pandemic, which has now killed more than 16,000 people worldwide, the tally of imported cases in China has soared to 427. Many cities have brought in tough rules to quarantine new arrivals, and all Beijing-bound international flights are being diverted to other cities where they will be screened for the virus. State media warned Tuesday of the second wave of infections, with the nationalistic Global Times warning on its front page that "inadequate quarantine measures" mean a second wave of infections is "highly likely, even inevitable." There have now been over 81,000 cases in China, and the death toll has reached 3,277. As the country tries to control imported cases, there are signs of normality beginning to return to Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province, where some 56 million people were placed under lockdown in January. Travel and work restrictions in the province have been gradually eased and Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first visit to Wuhan earlier this month. Wuhan residents considered healthy can now move around the city and take public transport if they show identification, and they can also go back to work if they have a permit from their employer.

China's imported virus cases spike as fears grow of second wave

1 out of 3 people may not show any symptoms of coronavirus ar all if they are COVID-19 positive. According to the latest study if left undiagnosed these may start another wave of coronavirus cases. Watch report:

Coronavirus Pandemic: 1 out of 3 Coronavirus cases show no symptoms

As the coronavirus cases continue to surge in India, the state of lockdown has been extended to 30 states and union territories. 548 out of 700 districts are now officially locked down. Watch report:

Coronavirus Pandemic : 75% of all Indian states under lockdown,9 deaths, 471 infected

Boredom is an understatement. You find few people in your colony, fewer on streets and very few inside your office. Markets are closed. People have their mouths covered. You do not get a sense of emotion while speaking to another person. Bottom line - lockdown is both at the physical and emotional level.

Media is part of the essential service, but staff across the companies is being rationed, in case the pandemic goes out of hand as it has happened in Italy.

Like many others, I’m also a willful participant in this long march. My ambition, responsibility and scare to work from home drives me to report to work. Despite the awareness that we are dealing with something grave and very problematic, the feeling of being bored beyond your wits, doesn’t leave me. It’s like time has come to a standstill and work has transformed into statistics and that too of death count and people suffering from a fatal infection.

Every conversation from a local store to office guard is about this invisible virus which has come to define our lives. The weight of the daily chores coupled with lack of conversation becomes such a killer that by the end of the day all you want to do is drown yourself in the unreal world of content platforms like Netflix.

It is not as if the work has become less but the content becomes less diversified and one ends up doing the same thing in the loop again and again. It is not to deny the excitement of covering something dreadful, a feeling which a war junkie reporter would truly understand. You aren’t covering anything novel, but the magnitude of the story defines both you and the world which surrounds you and the story.

Having said that, I would say that my day-2 of lockdown remained fuzzy. The only thing which looked good was blue sky in the morning and cloud cover and breeze in the evening.

Pollution was less, and the noise was missing. As if Delhi has been put to sleep and people have disappeared into the big concrete buildings. Roads looked bigger and by-lanes cleaner.

Yesterday when I was leaving for home, I got trailed by two dogs. I thought they were trying to make a run after me. Soon I realized that they were hungry as Noida has been under lockdown. Most of them in Film city were unfed as local stalls too stayed shut. They were very hungry but definitely didn’t look bored as they had the street to themselves which is rarely a case in this part of the city.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Boredom is an understatement. You find few people in your colony, fewer on streets and very few inside your office. Markets are closed. People have their mouths covered.

Boredom is an understatement. You find few people in your colony, fewer on streets and very few inside your office. Markets are closed. People have their mouths covered. You do not get a sense of emotion while speaking to another person. Bottom line - lockdown is both at the physical and emotional level. Media is part of the essential service, but staff across the companies is being rationed, in case the pandemic goes out of hand as it has happened in Italy. Like many others, I’m also a willful participant in this long march. My ambition, responsibility and scare to work from home drives me to report to work. Despite the awareness that we are dealing with something grave and very problematic, the feeling of being bored beyond your wits, doesn’t leave me. It’s like time has come to a standstill and work has transformed into statistics and that too of death count and people suffering from a fatal infection. Every conversation from a local store to office guard is about this invisible virus which has come to define our lives. The weight of the daily chores coupled with lack of conversation becomes such a killer that by the end of the day all you want to do is drown yourself in the unreal world of content platforms like Netflix. It is not as if the work has become less but the content becomes less diversified and one ends up doing the same thing in the loop again and again. It is not to deny the excitement of covering something dreadful, a feeling which a war junkie reporter would truly understand. You aren’t covering anything novel, but the magnitude of the story defines both you and the world which surrounds you and the story. Having said that, I would say that my day-2 of lockdown remained fuzzy. The only thing which looked good was blue sky in the morning and cloud cover and breeze in the evening. Pollution was less, and the noise was missing. As if Delhi has been put to sleep and people have disappeared into the big concrete buildings. Roads looked bigger and by-lanes cleaner. Yesterday when I was leaving for home, I got trailed by two dogs. I thought they were trying to make a run after me. Soon I realized that they were hungry as Noida has been under lockdown. Most of them in Film city were unfed as local stalls too stayed shut. They were very hungry but definitely didn’t look bored as they had the street to themselves which is rarely a case in this part of the city. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Blog: Day 2 of lockdown - boredom is an understatement

By Neil Pype

As much of the world gets used to social distancing, school closures and restrictions in movement in response to the coronavirus pandemic, obvious questions are being asked about how governments and companies can prepare themselves for these sorts of extreme events.

One technique that has gained prominence in helping business people and officials deal with events that have a low probability but high impact is called scenario analysis or scenario planning. There are a number of different methods that can be used to model scenarios, but in essence these all involve developing stories about a number of possible ways that the future could unfold.

Probably the best known and most widely used approach, which was developed within Shell during the 1970s, involves groups of stakeholders discussing what happens when two unrelated but highly uncertain drivers of change interact in extreme ways. The eminent scenario analyst Kees van der Heijden, a former head of scenario planning at Shell, has described how one of the company’s early scenario-planning exercises examined the government approach to the energy sector and the potential discovery of significant natural gas reserves.

This approach does not aim to predict the future, and in fact, recognises that this is a fundamentally impossible and futile thing to do. Instead, it encourages what van der Heijden has called “strategic conversations”, which allow those involved to have their world views challenged. The hope is that this makes business people and officials more aware of when things are not going according to plan – and so better able to respond.

Not a black swan event

There is little doubt that this sort of agile thinking has helped some officials and companies respond earlier and more decisively to the changing events of recent weeks. In some ways, the COVID-19 pandemic is a prime example of a black swan event – a term coined by the writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb to describe very high impact events that are unimaginable before they happen.

But the COVID-19 pandemic should not really be a black swan event. Epidemiologists have been warning for decades that a pandemic of a novel flu strain was inevitable. There have been a number of scares over the past two decades, such as the SARS outbreak in 2002-04, which was concentrated in southern China and Hong Kong, the swine flu pandemic that originated in Mexico in 2009, and H5N1 avian flu in the 2000s.

While all of these epidemics were serious, they weren’t on the same scale as COVID-19. This may well have led to business and political leaders focusing their attention on what they perceived to be more pressing priorities in recent years. In the US, for example, the Trump administration cut funding to disease security programmes as recently as 2018.

The behavioural economists Amos Tvertky and Daniel Kahneman have developed the idea of the availability heuristic, which suggests that people overestimate the probability of things that are high profile and memorable, such as terrorist attacks.

However, the reverse is also the case, and the sustained absence of a pandemic such as COVID-19 – a high-impact, once-in-a-generation event – has led people to underestimate its likelihood and impact. A number of think tanks and consultancies provide early warning services about low-profile, high-impact events, such as conflict in the South China Sea. However, if they feature events that are considered far fetched, they risk losing credibility among their clients and readers.

Out ahead

It’s probably no accident that a number of the countries that have responded effectively to the COVID-19 outbreak are in East Asia, where the SARS outbreak and H5N1 scares are relatively recent memories. For example, Taiwan has been praised for taking early action to contain the potential spread of the virus, and Singapore has been able to keep down infection rates through widespread testing for the virus, enabling effective quarantining and treatment of cases.

One key lesson that can be taken from the response to the pandemic so far is that companies and countries that are able to respond quickly, and change strategies in response to rapidly changing events, will do well. For example, videoconferencing software producer Zoom has made premium versions of its system available for free to educational institutions that are forced to teach online. This will expose large numbers of students to the company’s platform and brand, as well as generating significant positive publicity, which is likely to prove beneficial once normal life resumes.

Scenario analysis and some of its related underlying principles can offer some tools to prepare for and deal with highly disruptive events. However, they cannot predict where and when such events will take place, nor can they completely overcome the psychological traps that cause us to underestimate them, and as a result be underprepared. Perhaps our best hope is that by being more aware of these issues, and the fact that uncertainty dominates so much of our lives, we might be a little bit better able to respond to unexpected events, big and small.

(Neil Pyper is Associate Professor, School of Strategy and Leadership, Coventry University)

(Amjed Rasheed is Research Fellow, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-could-the-world-have-prepared-better-for-a-pandemic-134262">the original article</a>)

By Neil Pype As much of the world gets used to social distancing, school closures and restrictions in movement in response to the coronavirus pandemic, obvious questions are being asked about how governments and companies can prepare themselves for these sorts of extreme events.

By Neil Pype As much of the world gets used to social distancing, school closures and restrictions in movement in response to the coronavirus pandemic, obvious questions are being asked about how governments and companies can prepare themselves for these sorts of extreme events. One technique that has gained prominence in helping business people and officials deal with events that have a low probability but high impact is called scenario analysis or scenario planning. There are a number of different methods that can be used to model scenarios, but in essence these all involve developing stories about a number of possible ways that the future could unfold. Probably the best known and most widely used approach, which was developed within Shell during the 1970s, involves groups of stakeholders discussing what happens when two unrelated but highly uncertain drivers of change interact in extreme ways. The eminent scenario analyst Kees van der Heijden, a former head of scenario planning at Shell, has described how one of the company’s early scenario-planning exercises examined the government approach to the energy sector and the potential discovery of significant natural gas reserves. This approach does not aim to predict the future, and in fact, recognises that this is a fundamentally impossible and futile thing to do. Instead, it encourages what van der Heijden has called “strategic conversations”, which allow those involved to have their world views challenged. The hope is that this makes business people and officials more aware of when things are not going according to plan – and so better able to respond. Not a black swan event There is little doubt that this sort of agile thinking has helped some officials and companies respond earlier and more decisively to the changing events of recent weeks. In some ways, the COVID-19 pandemic is a prime example of a black swan event – a term coined by the writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb to describe very high impact events that are unimaginable before they happen. But the COVID-19 pandemic should not really be a black swan event. Epidemiologists have been warning for decades that a pandemic of a novel flu strain was inevitable. There have been a number of scares over the past two decades, such as the SARS outbreak in 2002-04, which was concentrated in southern China and Hong Kong, the swine flu pandemic that originated in Mexico in 2009, and H5N1 avian flu in the 2000s. While all of these epidemics were serious, they weren’t on the same scale as COVID-19. This may well have led to business and political leaders focusing their attention on what they perceived to be more pressing priorities in recent years. In the US, for example, the Trump administration cut funding to disease security programmes as recently as 2018. The behavioural economists Amos Tvertky and Daniel Kahneman have developed the idea of the availability heuristic, which suggests that people overestimate the probability of things that are high profile and memorable, such as terrorist attacks. However, the reverse is also the case, and the sustained absence of a pandemic such as COVID-19 – a high-impact, once-in-a-generation event – has led people to underestimate its likelihood and impact. A number of think tanks and consultancies provide early warning services about low-profile, high-impact events, such as conflict in the South China Sea. However, if they feature events that are considered far fetched, they risk losing credibility among their clients and readers. Out ahead It’s probably no accident that a number of the countries that have responded effectively to the COVID-19 outbreak are in East Asia, where the SARS outbreak and H5N1 scares are relatively recent memories. For example, Taiwan has been praised for taking early action to contain the potential spread of the virus, and Singapore has been able to keep down infection rates through widespread testing for the virus, enabling effective quarantining and treatment of cases. One key lesson that can be taken from the response to the pandemic so far is that companies and countries that are able to respond quickly, and change strategies in response to rapidly changing events, will do well. For example, videoconferencing software producer Zoom has made premium versions of its system available for free to educational institutions that are forced to teach online. This will expose large numbers of students to the company’s platform and brand, as well as generating significant positive publicity, which is likely to prove beneficial once normal life resumes. Scenario analysis and some of its related underlying principles can offer some tools to prepare for and deal with highly disruptive events. However, they cannot predict where and when such events will take place, nor can they completely overcome the psychological traps that cause us to underestimate them, and as a result be underprepared. Perhaps our best hope is that by being more aware of these issues, and the fact that uncertainty dominates so much of our lives, we might be a little bit better able to respond to unexpected events, big and small. (Neil Pyper is Associate Professor, School of Strategy and Leadership, Coventry University) (Amjed Rasheed is Research Fellow, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article)

Coronavirus: Could the world have prepared better for a pandemic?

As talk of ‘mellow-globalisation’ and ‘slowbalisation’ gained traction and currency in academic and policy circles, and it was increasingly held that the 3rd wave of globalisation that began in the 1970s as coming to an end, it might be ultimately the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/explained-countries-that-are-setting-example-for-world-in-fight-against-coronavirus-288195">coronavirus pandemic</a> that kills globalisation. While globalisation has been an age-old phenomenon corresponding to historical progression albeit, in a un-linear fashion, its modern-day avatar was given impetus by the Information and Communication Technologies(ICT’s) revolution and the primacy of neoclassical economics that privileged market economies over state-based mercantilist ones.&nbsp;

The result was a tremendous explosion of economic growth across many parts of the world and a veritable formation of a global economy.

It was held that the sole path to modernisation lay through and in the principles of an open political economy and free-market economics. China and its post-1978 economic modernisation was deemed to be the poster child of economic openness and its concomitant, economic growth. The country grew stupendously, millions were raised out of poverty and progress was writ large over it. But the flip side of free market-inspired globalisation was inequality, especially within nations. Crisscrossing supply chains straddling the globe, capitals’ quest for the rate of return, efficiency and effectiveness meant those whole industries died in the developed world and migrated to locales like China arbitraging both labour and capital in the process. The effect was drastic: entire swathes of blue-collar jobs were wiped out in the developed world.

Those countries with weak social safety nets like the United States, were hit the most; in the process, a new political constituency grew that clamoured for the return or revival of industry and structures thereof. &nbsp;While the conundrum ran deep because of the sheer logic of economics, the answer – a political one- was given by Donald Trump in the United States in the form of populism. The grist and mill of this populism was returned to nationalism, national economic policymaking, mercantilism and populism. Whether or not these would deliver remained and remains moot, but policymaking in the United States sought precisely to choke globalisation.

As the tensions over globalisation and new old policy-making paradigms began to take shape, the world is being swept over by the deadly <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/coronavirus-outbreak-how-to-keep-children-safe-expert-answers-all-your-questions-287557">coronavirus epidemic</a>. Countries across the world are scrambling for a response; the default reflex has been to close off borders, choking trade and investment in the process.&nbsp;

Central banks have responded by lowering interest rates and many countries have injected a fiscal stimulus into their economies to deal with the emerging and evolving crisis. On the face of it, there have been clarion calls for multilateralism and a collective response to the pandemic given that it respects no boundaries and borders, but these calls, even though noble-minded, will increasingly be ignored.

In all likelihood, the world will revert to either more or less statist economic policy paradigms with a concomitant slide into nationalism. The free movement of peoples that had been slowed down by immigration controls in the United States ad calls for the same in Europe, might be dealt a body blow. Capital might also become more parochial and hibernate in places deemed safer, so to speak. Given the correlation between investment and trade flows, both will be impeded and either trade blocs will stage a revival or be more national. Firms will retrench and narrow their focus to both defray their risks and protect profits plus realign themselves with new economic policies. The result will be a world that will retreat into itself and the nation-state will be back with a vengeance.

The irony of it all will be that a virus that is not even a living organism and is invisible will succeed in doing what wars and other catastrophes could not: bring a halt to globalisation.&nbsp;

But, yet again, from a long duree perspective of history, globalisation, will after a hiatus will not be terminally and fatally ill. It will, at some point in time, stage a comeback. &nbsp;However, its comeback will be more technologically determined and flavoured: artificial intelligence(AI), robotics and other technological developments will have become more sophisticated and potent potentially relegating humans to the periphery.&nbsp;

This presents a real and present danger, not in a Luddite sense or perspective but that technology as important as it is having being one of the engines of historical progress should not and must not become an end in itself. It should serve mankind and be an instrument of progress and development, broadly defined.

It is here that the challenge of the next wave of globalisation lies. The hope is unlike the coronavirus pandemic, the world and its people will be better prepared then! 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

As talk of ‘mellow-globalisation’ and ‘slowbalisation’ gained traction and currency in academic and policy circles, and it was increasingly held that the 3rd wave of globalisation that began in the 1970s as coming to an end, it might be ultimately the coronavirus pandemic that kills globalisation.

As talk of ‘mellow-globalisation’ and ‘slowbalisation’ gained traction and currency in academic and policy circles, and it was increasingly held that the 3rd wave of globalisation that began in the 1970s as coming to an end, it might be ultimately the coronavirus pandemic that kills globalisation. While globalisation has been an age-old phenomenon corresponding to historical progression albeit, in a un-linear fashion, its modern-day avatar was given impetus by the Information and Communication Technologies(ICT’s) revolution and the primacy of neoclassical economics that privileged market economies over state-based mercantilist ones. The result was a tremendous explosion of economic growth across many parts of the world and a veritable formation of a global economy. It was held that the sole path to modernisation lay through and in the principles of an open political economy and free-market economics. China and its post-1978 economic modernisation was deemed to be the poster child of economic openness and its concomitant, economic growth. The country grew stupendously, millions were raised out of poverty and progress was writ large over it. But the flip side of free market-inspired globalisation was inequality, especially within nations. Crisscrossing supply chains straddling the globe, capitals’ quest for the rate of return, efficiency and effectiveness meant those whole industries died in the developed world and migrated to locales like China arbitraging both labour and capital in the process. The effect was drastic: entire swathes of blue-collar jobs were wiped out in the developed world. Those countries with weak social safety nets like the United States, were hit the most; in the process, a new political constituency grew that clamoured for the return or revival of industry and structures thereof. While the conundrum ran deep because of the sheer logic of economics, the answer – a political one- was given by Donald Trump in the United States in the form of populism. The grist and mill of this populism was returned to nationalism, national economic policymaking, mercantilism and populism. Whether or not these would deliver remained and remains moot, but policymaking in the United States sought precisely to choke globalisation. As the tensions over globalisation and new old policy-making paradigms began to take shape, the world is being swept over by the deadly coronavirus epidemic. Countries across the world are scrambling for a response; the default reflex has been to close off borders, choking trade and investment in the process. Central banks have responded by lowering interest rates and many countries have injected a fiscal stimulus into their economies to deal with the emerging and evolving crisis. On the face of it, there have been clarion calls for multilateralism and a collective response to the pandemic given that it respects no boundaries and borders, but these calls, even though noble-minded, will increasingly be ignored. In all likelihood, the world will revert to either more or less statist economic policy paradigms with a concomitant slide into nationalism. The free movement of peoples that had been slowed down by immigration controls in the United States ad calls for the same in Europe, might be dealt a body blow. Capital might also become more parochial and hibernate in places deemed safer, so to speak. Given the correlation between investment and trade flows, both will be impeded and either trade blocs will stage a revival or be more national. Firms will retrench and narrow their focus to both defray their risks and protect profits plus realign themselves with new economic policies. The result will be a world that will retreat into itself and the nation-state will be back with a vengeance. The irony of it all will be that a virus that is not even a living organism and is invisible will succeed in doing what wars and other catastrophes could not: bring a halt to globalisation. But, yet again, from a long duree perspective of history, globalisation, will after a hiatus will not be terminally and fatally ill. It will, at some point in time, stage a comeback. However, its comeback will be more technologically determined and flavoured: artificial intelligence(AI), robotics and other technological developments will have become more sophisticated and potent potentially relegating humans to the periphery. This presents a real and present danger, not in a Luddite sense or perspective but that technology as important as it is having being one of the engines of historical progress should not and must not become an end in itself. It should serve mankind and be an instrument of progress and development, broadly defined. It is here that the challenge of the next wave of globalisation lies. The hope is unlike the coronavirus pandemic, the world and its people will be better prepared then! (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Coronavirus pandemic will bring a halt to globalisation

A 65-year-old coronavirus positive patient passed away in Mumbai on Monday. The deceased returned from UAE to Ahmedabad on March 15th and went to Mumbai on March 20th. After complaints of high blood pressure and diabetes, he was admitted to Kasturba hospital on March 23rd and died on the same evening in the hospital

Another coronavirus death reported in Indian city Maharashtra, Death toll rises to 10

The Election Commission of India has postponed the Rajya Sabha elections due to the threat of coronavirus.&nbsp;

The 18 Rajya Sabha seats of seven states were to be polled on March 26. It is accepted that now the new date of polls will be discharged simply in the wake of getting alleviation from COVID-19.

A total of 55 Rajya Sabha seats of 17 states were being vacated in April. On March 26, the Commission issued notification for elections to these seats. Most of the seats in several states including Haryana, Himachal Pradesh have been elected unopposed. Only 18 Rajya Sabha seats were to be elected through voting.

Nearly 500 coronavirus cases have been reported in India so far, according to Health Ministry data on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, as many as 30 states/UTs have been placed under complete lockdown even as the number of coronavirus COVID-19 cases have reached 471 across India by Monday evening. The death toll from the highly contagious infection stood at nine.

The Centre has also decided to restrict all domestic transport services—railways, flights and interstate buses—across the country on a massive scale that has never been witnessed by the country.

All domestic flights from midnight on March 24 have been cancelled. However, these restrictions will not apply to cargo flights.

"Airlines have to plan operations so as to land at their destination before 2359 hours on 24/3/2020," the Ministry said in a statement.

The deadly coronavirus has claimed 16,524 lives and infected 379,080 people globally. &nbsp; 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

The Election Commission of India has postponed the Rajya Sabha elections due to the threat of coronavirus. The 18 Rajya Sabha seats of seven states were to be polled on March 26.

The Election Commission of India has postponed the Rajya Sabha elections due to the threat of coronavirus. The 18 Rajya Sabha seats of seven states were to be polled on March 26. It is accepted that now the new date of polls will be discharged simply in the wake of getting alleviation from COVID-19. A total of 55 Rajya Sabha seats of 17 states were being vacated in April. On March 26, the Commission issued notification for elections to these seats. Most of the seats in several states including Haryana, Himachal Pradesh have been elected unopposed. Only 18 Rajya Sabha seats were to be elected through voting. Nearly 500 coronavirus cases have been reported in India so far, according to Health Ministry data on Tuesday. Meanwhile, as many as 30 states/UTs have been placed under complete lockdown even as the number of coronavirus COVID-19 cases have reached 471 across India by Monday evening. The death toll from the highly contagious infection stood at nine. The Centre has also decided to restrict all domestic transport services—railways, flights and interstate buses—across the country on a massive scale that has never been witnessed by the country. All domestic flights from midnight on March 24 have been cancelled. However, these restrictions will not apply to cargo flights. "Airlines have to plan operations so as to land at their destination before 2359 hours on 24/3/2020," the Ministry said in a statement. The deadly coronavirus has claimed 16,524 lives and infected 379,080 people globally. (With inputs from agencies)

Rajya Sabha election scheduled for March 26 postponed amid Covid-19 lockdown

What seemed unthinkable a month back, is rapidly becoming the new normal. The <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/chinas-imported-virus-cases-spike-as-fears-grow-of-second-wave-288149">coronavirus</a> has plunged the entire world into a state of war.

From Singapore to the United States, there are now 167 countries locked in a deadly battle against this virus. But some nations, with their furious efforts, are demonstrating that the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/wion-edit-how-social-distancing-affects-our-mental-health-288123">virus can be defeated</a>.

They were either better equipped or better prepared to contain the crisis. Some others have taken steps to keep the virus from going into an exponential growth cycle.

These four countries are setting an example for the world in the fight against the Wuhan coronavirus:

Honk Kong:

Hong Kong had been rocked by an entire year of political protests, it worked swiftly to contain the spread of this virus. The city is located at the frontline of the outbreak, just 919 kilometres away from Wuhan.

But in the last two months, Hong Kong has recorded only 357 cases and 4 deaths. Because the 7.5 million residents in this city, even the anti-government protesters, listened to medical experts.&nbsp;

With the 2003 SARS outbreak still fresh in people's minds. Hong-Kongers built upon public directives and set a clear baseline for social distancing.

Schools, universities and offices were shut in late January. So were airports and most border crossings with mainland China.

Today, arrivals from mainland China have fallen to a daily average of 750 and these people are strictly made to self-quarantine for 14 days. 
 
WATCH:

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-wuhan-coronavirus-countries-that-are-setting-an-example-for-the-world-288145/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

South Korea

South Korea has reported 9,000 cases and 111 deaths, but the outbreak is in relative decline. The country is testing anyone who has had close contact with a patient, regardless of symptoms.

20,000 people are being tested every day at 633 centres across the country. This mass and indiscriminate testing is being followed by rigorous contact-tracing and quarantine of all suspects.

In 2015, the MERS outbreak claimed 38 lives in South Korea. In the 5 years that followed, successive governments overhauled their response to respiratory infections and fast-tracked production of test kits.

Today, nearly every hospital in South Korea is equipped with infection control units and pressure rooms.

Taiwan 
 
Taiwan has been shut out of the World Health Organisation (WHO) discussions, but its coronavirus response is a success story.

It is located just 200 kilometres away from China's coast, but has reported only 195 cases because in December, the country began inspecting everything and everybody coming in from China.

In January, it stopped all exports of surgical masks as a precaution. The same month, travel history of all its residents were integrated with health insurance cards.

And right now, everyone undergoing self-quarantine has their cell-phones tracked. Taiwan has reported only two deaths in the last 3 months.

Singapore

Singapore too is doing everything right. After the horrors of the SARS outbreak, Singapore had developed a robust infrastructure for dealing with pandemics.

In January, it became one of the first countries to report cases. But Singapore was prepared for the coronavirus juggernaut. The country has designated contact tracers outlining each patient's case history.

Testing is free, 2,000 people are being tested every day. Schools and restaurants remain open, but people constantly have their temperatures checked. The result, the number of cases has been restricted to 455 and there have been only 2 deaths.

&nbsp;

What seemed unthinkable a month back, is rapidly becoming the new normal. The coronavirus has plunged the entire world into a state of war. From Singapore to the United States, there are now 167 countries locked in a deadly battle against this virus.

What seemed unthinkable a month back, is rapidly becoming the new normal. The coronavirus has plunged the entire world into a state of war. From Singapore to the United States, there are now 167 countries locked in a deadly battle against this virus. But some nations, with their furious efforts, are demonstrating that the virus can be defeated. They were either better equipped or better prepared to contain the crisis. Some others have taken steps to keep the virus from going into an exponential growth cycle. These four countries are setting an example for the world in the fight against the Wuhan coronavirus: Honk Kong: Hong Kong had been rocked by an entire year of political protests, it worked swiftly to contain the spread of this virus. The city is located at the frontline of the outbreak, just 919 kilometres away from Wuhan. But in the last two months, Hong Kong has recorded only 357 cases and 4 deaths. Because the 7.5 million residents in this city, even the anti-government protesters, listened to medical experts. With the 2003 SARS outbreak still fresh in people's minds. Hong-Kongers built upon public directives and set a clear baseline for social distancing. Schools, universities and offices were shut in late January. So were airports and most border crossings with mainland China. Today, arrivals from mainland China have fallen to a daily average of 750 and these people are strictly made to self-quarantine for 14 days. WATCH: × South Korea South Korea has reported 9,000 cases and 111 deaths, but the outbreak is in relative decline. The country is testing anyone who has had close contact with a patient, regardless of symptoms. 20,000 people are being tested every day at 633 centres across the country. This mass and indiscriminate testing is being followed by rigorous contact-tracing and quarantine of all suspects. In 2015, the MERS outbreak claimed 38 lives in South Korea. In the 5 years that followed, successive governments overhauled their response to respiratory infections and fast-tracked production of test kits. Today, nearly every hospital in South Korea is equipped with infection control units and pressure rooms. Taiwan Taiwan has been shut out of the World Health Organisation (WHO) discussions, but its coronavirus response is a success story. It is located just 200 kilometres away from China's coast, but has reported only 195 cases because in December, the country began inspecting everything and everybody coming in from China. In January, it stopped all exports of surgical masks as a precaution. The same month, travel history of all its residents were integrated with health insurance cards. And right now, everyone undergoing self-quarantine has their cell-phones tracked. Taiwan has reported only two deaths in the last 3 months. Singapore Singapore too is doing everything right. After the horrors of the SARS outbreak, Singapore had developed a robust infrastructure for dealing with pandemics. In January, it became one of the first countries to report cases. But Singapore was prepared for the coronavirus juggernaut. The country has designated contact tracers outlining each patient's case history. Testing is free, 2,000 people are being tested every day. Schools and restaurants remain open, but people constantly have their temperatures checked. The result, the number of cases has been restricted to 455 and there have been only 2 deaths.

Explained: Countries that are setting example for world in fight against coronavirus

India locks down 30 states & UT's amid Coronavirus outbreak

Novel coronavirus cases continue to surge in India with more than 319 infections and 7 deaths. PM Narendra Modi led an effort to stem the surge COVID-19 cases by falling for a 14-hour people's curfew om March 22. But the big question is India headed for a complete lockdown. Watch report:

India battles COVID-19: 80 districts under lockdown

Watch this report to know- What needs to be done if someone in your society neighbourhood or family tests positive of COVID-19?

What housing societies must keep in mind amid Coronavirus outbreak?

Lockdown is the most potent tool amid the coronavirus outbreak and as the government said there will be some inconvenience caused. WION would like to assure our views that is no need to panic and several essential services will remain functional. Watch report:

Services to be operational in lockdown in India amid coronavirus crisis

Coronavirus cases continue to surge in India with more than 460 cases and 7 deaths. Now India headed for a complete lockdown. Watch this breaking news

Breaking News:After Lockdown Curfew in Delhi Ncr | Coronavirus India

In this situation of the COVID-19 crisis, we are concerned about one thing alone. Do we have enough supplies to stay at home? The fear is causing panic buying. Watch report:

Lockdown fears spark panic buying in India: Are retailers ready to handle the crisis

Coronavirus Pandemic in Italy: China provides medical facility Italy took a sigh of relief as the daily death toll of coronavirus in the country fell sharply after a record number of 800 deaths that took place on Saturday, but still, the country is facing worsen condition. China is ready to provide medical facility to Italy.

Coronavirus Pandemic in Italy: China provides medical facility

German Chancellor Angela Merkel quarantines herself, the doctor who vaccinated her tested positive for coronavirus. Merkel said, she will be working from home in coming days and will do her regular test

Angela Merkel quarantines herself

china-virus

China Virus, News on China Virus, stories on China Virus, articles on China Virus, China Virus stories at Wion, China Virus news, China Virus latest news

china virus