COVID-19 Pandemic – the Greatest Global Crisis of the Century
By Abdul Jabbar Memon
Los Angeles, CA
The far-reaching consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have gradually started to unfold on the global community. This virus has silently shifted the ground beneath our feet, shattered lives, disrupted markets, and exposed governments' inability to counter the economic and political challenges associated with its spread. In turn, the pandemic has changed the national priorities, interests, and security strategies of many important countries, including the world's superpowers.
Globally, closures of academic institutions have impacted more than 1.5 billion younglings, of which hundreds of millions are in low and lower-middle-income countries. Here, in the US, not only have 16.8 million Americans (roughly 1 out of 10 workers) lost their jobs, but existing workers have seen their sales commissions disappear and witnessed salary cuts, resulting from the decline in domestic and international demand. It remains to be assessed whether measures like the US$ 2.2 trillion relief package (with more in the pipeline) can address US unemployment and economic growth issues.
The future will see global health becoming a key component of national security policy and will become a critical macro-level concern that all governments will take seriously. The use of digital health technologies such as telemedicine and virtual consultations, besides state-sponsored investment into epidemic intelligence operations and epidemiological surveillance, will become vital to the overall strategic posture of nations. To that end, the domestic production of pharmaceutical products, medical supplies, services, and equipment, as well as the development of related human resources, may accelerate in countries that lack capabilities in these domains.
COVID-19 is also redefining the global supply chain process. The basic tenets of global manufacturing are subject to change, with leading producers re-engineering the multistep, multi-country production process for vital goods and services. There may be a gradual shift from the pre-existing reliance on long-distance supply chain and distribution networks that are highly vulnerable to disruption. Governments may foster this process by devising long-term strategies for domestic production to ensure that adequate buffer stocks of essential health goods can be available in times of health crises.
COVID-19 may also have far-reaching political implications. The coronavirus pandemic might become the new excuse for nationalism, isolation, anti-immigration policies, and institutionalized racism. In reality, the North-South paradigm is nearing its end with countries like China, Japan, and South Korea, spearheading the global effort to combat this pandemic, most notably through multilateral cooperation. The traditional monopoly of developed nations combating past global calamities is now being replaced by well-executed efforts of Asian tiger economies to present crises. South Korea and China - which were equally affected by the virus - are effectively helping the World Health Organization (WHO) and European countries to contain the spread of the virus. Chinese philanthropic organizations are actively engaged in distributing goods, i.e., masks and PPEs to European governments, similar to how developed nations supported developing nations in past crises. The global civil society has become instrumental in the fight against COVID-19. Another example of such efforts is the deployment of medical camps in Brussels run by Doctors without Borders - a renowned independent entity.
As highlighted earlier, COVID-19 has renewed and reshaped international cooperation and multilateralism. The pandemic has revealed how interconnected and interdependent our world has become. Now it's virtually impossible to tackle COVID-19 at the national level alone. The arrival of Pakistan Airforce's C-130 aircraft at a Maryland Military Airbase carrying essential accessories for US hospitals donated by the Government of Pakistan – was a clear manifestation of this cooperation. Traditionally, Pakistan has been a recipient of US aid, particularly in times of natural disasters. This time around, Pakistan embraced the principle of "helping you is helping me" and aided the US in combatting COVID-19 locally. This scenario illustrates our common vulnerabilities across borders, beyond the divides of global North versus the global South, East versus the West, public versus private sectors, and the limits of our segmented method to development administration. What dominates is a holistic, comprehensive, and coordinated approach to addressing all global problems in a post-COVID-19 world.
China was the first country to experience the full force of the disease and, with sound planning, became the first country to contain the virus's spread swiftly. Given China's response to the pandemic, it is sure to grant the state a prime role in the global policymaking debate. Superpowers like the US and the EU will need to make space for leading nations like China and learn how to create policies that uphold common interests even when relationships may be tense in other realms. However, rival countries may still find it considerably challenging to treat China equally amid accusations that China is actively engaged in adversarial hegemonic overtures around the world.
COVID-19 has threatened 7.8 billion people worldwide and is undoubtedly the most significant global crisis of the 21st century thus far. Unless a vaccine comes to the forefront, the world must cope amid the pandemic for at least the next 18 months, implementing rigorous planning and simultaneously take appropriate measures to contain its spread without harming the world's economy and social development.
The core challenge on the economic front is restarting and rebuilding the economy. This effort entails helping labor who lost jobs to get back to work, helping small businesses to resume operations and helping governments in the developing world to meet the challenges of market failure. In many countries, the recovery stage will likely involve stimulus packages that fund every aspect of economic activity, i.e., from physical and digital infrastructure to financial assistance for businesses and local governments.
The present pandemic needs a robust global response with a coordinated paradigm shift in global health governance and multilateral cooperation. The alternative may further deepen the divide between the global North and global South, challenging global solidarity on an unprecedented scale. The challenges associated with COVID-19 are tremendous. In the short-run, COVID-19 will create a less open and less prosperous world. The combination of a deadly virus outbreak, inadequate planning and implementation, and incompetent leadership have placed humanity on a new and worrisome path.
But there is hope as well. The present crisis has undoubtedly ignited human ingenuity. It may give way to innovations in medicine, pandemic response, and economic recovery drawing from the expertise of developing countries like China, Japan, and South Korea in responding to infectious diseases.
(Abdul Jabbar Memon is Consul General of Pakistan, Los Angeles, USA)
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