The Challenges of COVID-19

COVID-19 challenges all of us, whoever and wherever we are. Now that the trade-off has been made in most countries to contain the virus, the most important challenge is medical and it is scientists, doctors and nurses who are leading the fight back. The top priority, which is being pursued in different countries with widely differing purposefulness, is to prevent hospitals and the rest of the health service being overwhelmed thereby resulting in many otherwise untimely deaths and even worse economic damage. Large-scale testing is needed for greater understanding of the virus itself (including propensity for mutation and for flare-up in subsequent waves) as well as how to treat it. It is also the key to getting people back to work, including health workers. There are claims and counter-claims on the efficacy of various existing remedies for other conditions, notably chloroquine which is used for treating malaria but seems to have some efficacy with COVID-19 in mild cases at the early stage. A serum will surely be produced (already being tested in Italy) from antibodies taken from those who have been tested and recovered from the virus. Unfortunately, a preventative vaccine is likely to take longer to develop. Nevertheless, looking at the experience in Asia, it is possible to see how COVID-19 can and will be contained even if it remains far from clear when that will happen, including in the best prepared countries.