It’s still too soon to say when the nightmare we find ourselves in will be over, or what kind of changes the world would have to adapt to if it lasts too long. It is already abundantly clear however, that governments around the world will have to restructure their priorities.

It is baffling to see that the world suddenly faces a catastrophic threat in the form of a virus that nobody can understand, despite all the technological advances in the field of medicine.

Even in the 21st century, we live in a world where there aren’t enough ventilators, hospital beds, or even mortuaries to face a real, full blown crisis; even though the virus, for all the chaos it has caused, is still not quite as full blown as it could prove to be. If only such things could be handled with bombs, bullets and rich shareholder bailouts, things would not be nearly as dark.

Coming out of the pandemic, there is a clear need to reorient popular funding towards protecting and saving the world and its inhabitants via investment in health and education.

All the expensive weaponry produced by some of the world’s wealthiest political powerhouses and firms will amount to nothing if much of the planet’s population is suddenly wiped out by a freak pandemic.

This is another thing that the rich just would not have thought of in ordinary times – the coronavirus is least impressed by one’s bank balance, financial worth or pedigree. Not all the people lying on hospital beds, not sure whether they will live or die, are from the lowest sections of society, the virus does not discriminate. It calls for a united effort to move things forward, and a serious reconsideration of where our priorities lie.

SAQIB ISHAQ,

AJK.