Scientific know-how can lead way in global battle against coronavirus
The world faces a pandemic and Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt have ensured Australia is best prepared to deal with the spread of coronavirus, Piers Akerman writes.
Opinion
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The Morrison government is to be applauded for its proactive stance on dealing with the coronavirus. Forget the anger from the ABC’s UN-huggers who supported the hopeless World Health Organisation and ignore the bumbling Opposition leader Anthony Albanese, they’re all clueless.
The world faces a pandemic and Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt have ensured Australia is best prepared to deal with it.
I had a lengthy discussion about the virus with a genuine expert, Dr Jack Chow. He is the former US Ambassador on Global HIV/AIDS in the George W. Bush administration, and former Assistant-Director General at the WHO on HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, and Distinguished Service Professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in Washington, DC, and its Australian campus in Adelaide.
Dr Chow is very, very concerned, and has been since China belatedly acknowledged the existence of the coronavirus in January. Back in January, he said the coronavirus had caught Chinese authorities off-guard and fighting on two fronts — the race to keep up, and the need to prevail over any criticism.
“This dual battle makes coronavirus a potent threat not only to China, but to all countries in the epidemic’s way,” he told me.
“Already we have an asymptomatic case in northern California, an individual who hadn’t been in China now, apparently, in contact with someone who had been which leads me to think there can be carriers who don’t show the symptoms of the virus and also that the incubation period may be longer than we thought.”
In other words, the virus may already be widespread internationally but we have yet to see it in full bloom.
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Dr Chow said one way to characterise this outbreak is to consider it as the latest in a series of “flashdemics”. A flashdemic is an explosive outbreak that accelerates beyond healthcare capabilities and transforms into a destructive maelstrom.
A flashdemic, he said, possesses three medical characteristics of immediate concern.
First, it imparts a fast velocity of propagation that for coronavirus is accelerated by aerosolised spread and by modern mobility.
Second, it catalyses an acuity of illness that requires immediate care, and third, it brings on a high lethality rate that underscores the vital stakes involved.
Adding to these pressures are three features with political implications: the severity of the outbreak as the number of cases fills hospitals; the durability of the crisis which exhausts all measures thrown against it, and the ferocity of controversies over the effective course of action.
Ultimately a flashdemic provokes ever-rising demands that overwhelm authorities. That is the battle China now finds itself waging through draconian measures: building instant hospitals, imposing multi-city lockdowns, halting entire transport systems and banning travel.
Such improvisations are made possible by China wielding its authoritarian powers and mobilising its vast array of resources.
Yet a greater danger lurks beyond China, he said, as the virus propagates worldwide, it will threaten to tip fragile states into calamity.
It could infiltrate strife-ridden zones such as Syria or Yemen, or Latin American areas made disease-vulnerable by millions fleeing Venezuela, or sub-Saharan Africa already weakened by HIV/AIDS and ebola.
Whereas rich nations have well backed plans, fragile states have little ability to fend off a coronavirus invasion. In those areas, the virus could take up permanent residence and spawn even deadlier variants.
One prime weakness of the global health system is its spottiness: rich countries can afford robust responses but the poor cannot, creating checkerboard gaps of coverage that undermine the security of even the stronger nations.
The global community is put at risk when points of vulnerability are ignored. Dr Chow said while every country deals with its own emergency, what is needed is concerted activation of governments, advised by the WHO, along with experts from other sectors.
Their actions ought to be led by a leader with authority and resources at the ready.
During the ebola crisis, a UN special envoy was appointed to do just that. Should the epidemic worsen, the UN should consider appointing a coronavirus response “tsar”.
International health authorities ought to form a response-ready team, a “medical SWAT” unit endowed with technical gear and doctors and nurses who can administer temporising care until local authorities are strong enough to take over. Such a multilateral advance would be a needed bulwark against future flashdemics.
One lesson of battling ebola in west Africa showcased the need for early, aggressive intervention.
As Australia is a leading health power in the Pacific with a storeyed history of medical diplomacy in the region, this nation’s scientific contribution to global health defence is critical. Melbourne’s Doherty Institute replicated the genetic formula of the China virus in an invaluable real-time breakthrough for the quick development of vaccines and diagnostic tests.
I would agree a global effort is needed but would not place it under the aegis of the WHO, which has shown itself in this to be ineffectual and unable to stand up to China.