Prime Minister Imran Khan, in the course of his gradually intensifying war against Covid-19 pandemic, keeps addressing the nation. He has so far ruled out any countrywide lockdown to fight the deadly virus – notwithstanding the mounting pressure from the opposition for such drastic action. His concern was that over 25% of our population comprising daily wagers, wheel cart pushers, fruit and vegetable vendors live under the poverty line. Any long lockdown would deprive them of their daily earnings throwing them in the jaws of hunger and death. It would be logistically difficult to supply ration to them at their homes. He further warned that spreading panic and chaos in the country was more dangerous than the coronavirus. There are no two opinions about the crippling impact of chaos in a polity. What the situation demands of the nation as a whole is unity, sacrifice and selflessness. We should be determined to stand up as a rock wall against all attempts for hoarding, profiteering and panic buying. The wealthy, philanthropists, religious scholars, spiritual and community leaders should come forward to make their contribution in the fight against this monster. They should untie their purse strings; direct their efforts to the support of the underprivileged; offer their extra bungalows and precincts for use as quarantine by the federal and provincial governments. This will be a good act of repentance or penance. Our venerable Ulema and spiritual leaders must appreciate the mosques and spiritual precincts derive their importance, sanctity and beauty from the human devotion and faith. Thus, the health and life of faithful are more significant than the continuity of prayers in the mosques. The avalanche of Coronavirus on over 195 countries with enormous loss of human life in some significant countries of the European continent and North America is going to leave the world in a distinctively different political and economic shape. The recession of 2008 was not so difficult to overcome. And then, the political and economic polarization globally was not so intense. Today, with the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union and the divisive after-effects of Brexit within the UK and Europe, the mounting competition between the assertive Russia and Europe, the economic and political contest between the United States and China, the trade wars involving the US, China, Japan, South Korea, the failings of President Donald Trump to stand out as the leader of the sole superpower to lead and unite the world have weakened a global response to the epidemic. In the financial crunch of 2008 when the financial markets started crumbling, “George W. Bush picked up his phone to connect with leaders of China, Germany, France, Britain, Japan securing a collective response to the crisis. Actions agreed to by 20 affluent states including an unprecedented spending boost by China helped avert a greater disaster”. It is certain that the monster virus will play havoc with the weak economies of the world particularly those ones overburdened by heavy loans and drained by regular debt retirements The loss caused to the US economy by the recession of 2008 was estimated at $22trillion. This included $750 billion bailout to the banks. This time round, the governments need to resort to different kinds of intervention to prevent feared economic collapse. The UK, in its recent budget, has allocated $38billion to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis. The allocation is being rubbished as too small as compared with $650billion bailout to the British banks in the financial recession of 2008. The economic experts agree that the national policies alone, adopted by individual governments, will not be enough to forestall a global catastrophe, and that the countries around the world must have collaborative plans to respond to the pandemic and to reshape the post covid-19 world order. This is so far missing. The US is going to be the hardest hit country; Europe is reeling with the mounting number of infections and deaths. The calamity has exposed the inadequacies of UN as the collective conscience or voice of the international community. The response of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund is too little and too late. Some economists also believed that whatever economic strides China had taken during the past three decades, have been wiped out to a greater extent by the deadly attack of the Covid-19 and the resultant shutdown of cities and economic activities in that country. However, the Chinese economy had the strength and capacity to absorb the shocks and, given the resilience the nation is endowed with, may redound with a leading role in reshaping the global economy to the wonderment of many nations. However, it is certain that the monster virus will play havoc with the weak economies of the world particularly those ones overburdened by heavy loans and drained by regular debt retirements. One shudders to imagine the impact of the financial crunch as financial markets are taking a plunge; banks and financial institutions, trade and commerce, factories and production and movement of goods, revenue collection slow down because of lockdowns with the concomitant difficulties in payments of pays and pensions, supply of essential provisions, medicines and medical equipment. This could trigger food riots with people ransacking stores, shopping malls, affluent houses – re-enacting the horror scenes witnessed on the chaotic streets of the beautiful and civilized Paris during the French revolution. Cannot we prefer to rise to occasion to help avert hunger and fight the virus following the prophylactic measures? We should accept that the ruling elite and oligarchs have left the country in no position to go for a long lockdown without risking food riots. The democracies, monarchies, autocracies, benevolent dictatorships of the decades following the World War II have been exposed for their callousness towards the general populace. The gross inadequacies of national health services of all the countries hit by the covid-19 have been laid bare. These countries have been bogged down in political, strategic and economic competition with each other spending bulk of their revenues on defence productions or imports at the cost of social services. The general populace may not allow them to do so in the post Covid-19 world. The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books