Let’s begin with a cure to break the Covid-19 spell

It’s normal to be anxious and fearful in a viral and unhealthy world, when a real and novel coronavirus is wrecking lives and destroying what humanity has built over centuries. Fear triggers survival instincts, the human defence mechanism is activated, and there is a will, a resolve to fight back with medical solutions. The march of civilisation had been the toast of everyday chatter until the pathogen struck four months ago and threw our lives out of whack. Tracking growth charts was all that mattered to policy wonks and people in power. So pretending that all is well in these uncertain times when civilisation has been pushed back several years is folly and could destroy humanity’s innate ability to survive, pick itself up and get back some semblance of normality. Therefore, acceptance is the first step towards recovery, a fact that people like US President Donald Trump have been wary of admitting for fear of putting the economy at risk. No amount of virtuality, vitriol, and rhetoric will compensate for what is happening on the ground. Hiding facts from the masses is futile but humans will come out of this sooner than most sceptics think. Sticking to the sobering news, the global economy is already in free fall and expected to fall further. Experts say the world will never be the same again. That’s an easy prediction to make, and is scant consolation for the helpless and the lost, struggling to make ends meet in the catastrophe.

Yes, this is health and economic disaster, one that hasn’t been witnessed in a hundred years. Other pundits say they had warned of a pandemic this size. But no one saw in what form it would appear, and when. Now that it is here, the world is scrambling for solutions to make it go away soon. This pandemic will affect every individual on planet earth. Every one of the 7.8 billion will be haunted by the months they were driven indoors by the coronavirus which knocked out the global economy. Earnings, pensions, food — the coronavirus has hit home and hard. Recovery will take time, but sentiment will improve once a cure is found. Some old drugs like remdesivir, that failed against Ebola, are showing potential. Big Pharma stocks are up. Health is back on the agenda. At least, the world is getting its priorities right during the pandemic. The wealth of people is tied to their health — Covid-19 has laid bare that truth. A drug will boost sentiment and people will be less afraid to step out and mingle with others when it is distributed to the masses. The virus has trapped them in fear for too long. Enough. Freedom through a vaccine or a cure will break the spell.

Every one of the 7.8 billion will be haunted by the months they were driven indoors by the coronavirus which knocked out the global economy.