Daily Times

“As the world woke up one morning from uneasy dreams, it found itself transformed into an enormous quarantine.” The introduction to COVID-19 and its ramifications sounds almost Kafka-esque, albeit this “metamorphosis” is more jarring in an all-encompassing manner. The disenchanting embrace of the pandemic spares no one. Ask any individual from any walk of life and any part of the world and he would bet his good Lord that his life has transformed. But is the uncertainty limited to our daily-life turned topsy-turvy and, in fact irksome, due to the resultant lockdown? How does the disruption look like on a macro level? We take a look at the various changes brought forth as the contagion alters the picture.

One definite casualty of the coronavirus pandemic would be the US as a world leader. Being the head of the most powerful state in the world, expectations ran high from President Trump to stand as a bulwark against the contagion. However, he was too busy slandering, scandalizing and cat-calling China under his nefarious political motives. The picture that has evolved speaks volumes about the future global order; China has ultimately defeated the virus and is now extending a helping hand to over 80 countries, not only to its neighbors but also to the European Union and the US itself. Whereas the US adamantly refuses to take any help from President Xi, in a desperate bid to save its undisputed status as a superpower from being tarnished. While China was working smartly towards coming out stronger than before, President Trump’s whims to have “America First” have placed the country at the top of the list of COVID-19 victims. The global power vacuum left by the US is swiftly being replaced by China, increasing its soft power and ultimately enhancing its political clout.

Meanwhile, the success of authoritarian regimes and the defeat of democracies against the pandemic is also a striking outcome. The dictatorships of Russia and China, much repealed by the Western media, proudly stand as role models of the day as Boris Johnson quietly watches from his ICU bed and Donald Trump suffers from foot-in-mouth syndrome. Democracy finds itself fidgeting in its own shoes.

Coronavirus has forced the world into another painful confession as the budget preferences have been laid bare. The proponents of military might at the cost of tumbling health budget are in a fix. The well-oiled tanks and freshly upgraded nukes stare in dismay at the unseen enemy. Even the high income countries have an average Global Health Index score of a mere 51.9; the virus has caught us napping. Addressing this discrepancy in allocation of capital would definitely be a significant change in upcoming budgets.

This brief respite of clearer skies and soothing air is not only to be enjoyed, but to be seen as a grim reminder of how man has been standing in his own light

Arguably the most lasting impact has been on the dynamics of economy. The global stock markets are plummeting. World Trade Organization projects the global trade to plunge by one-third. International Labor Organization estimates that the pandemic would leave 25 million unemployed on the top of 188 million already jobless people, to speak of only the registered unemployed. All these unsettling statistics have unraveled a fact that the economists have been warning for years; the irredeemable pitfalls of capitalism.

What is bound to be standing at the finish line of this battle is but one realization: the need for a new economic order. While speculations are being made about a steady evolution towards democratic socialism, and fears linger towards its disintegration into barbarism lest the pandemic should be prolonged, much faith relies in the hope that the upcoming US elections would lean towards the slogan of ‘progressive capitalism’, and other nations might follow suit. Strongly propounded by Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Lord Sainsbury, the lynchpin of progressive capitalism is to put a cap on unbridled market power of the capitalist as well as the integration of social justice and responsibility to all stake-holders. In this way, the society would be amenable to increased financial stability so that the pre-existing entropy of the system could be minimized.

It is not all hue and cry when it comes to coronavirus. The impact on global climate has proved to be the silver lining amidst the carnage, and the eye-opening statistics are promising enough to become a lasting determinant of future politico-economic scenario. Ecologists would write the year 2020 in gold and glitter, since the industrial shutdown and transport halt has cut carbon emissions faster than 25 years of global negotiations on climate, within a timid span of past three months. The ozone hole has shrunken to its smallest size since its discovery in 1985. The PirPanjal mountain range of Jammu is now clearly visible from Sialkot after almost 80 years.

This brief respite of clearer skies and soothing air is not only to be enjoyed, but to be seen as a grim reminder of how man has been standing in his own light. While conspiracy theorists rack their brains towards newer mischiefs, the fact cannot be denied that global warming has created the perfect environment for emergence and mutation of new diseases, as biologist Rob Wallace writes in his book, “Big Farms Make Big Flu.” It only bids fair that the battle against the ever-increasingly mutating and unpredictable COVID-19 is another off-shoot of our reckless abuse of environment. The pandemic would go away, but we need to make sure that the industrialists’ blindfolded scramble for profit hitherto becomes distant history. Every year, air pollution and the resultant diseases kill 7 million people globally, whereas in comparison, coronavirus, to this date, has claimed only a four hundred thousand, not to undermine the magnanimity of the COVID crises, but just to identify the bigger monster in the room. The governments need to work unanimously towards legislation and policy framework for environmental protection. We better learn our lessons and mend our ways now, lest the Nature should bring forth more lethal, more bizarre pathogens to purge itself of the parasitic human race and restore environmental stability. The words of Kofi Annan ring very much true today, as he said, “Global warming must be seen as an economic and security threat.”

The writer is a doctor and a prize-winning author