Coronavirus: Donald Trump finally understands how serious this is

US President Donald Trump has made serious efforts to get ahead of the curve. Picture: AFP

Maintaining our way of life in the coronavirus is not going to be easy. Winter is our bleakest time but this winter the world seems truly harsh. Boris Johnson came close to losing his battle with the virus and after weeks of illness he still looks awful. His travails ably demonstrated the extraordinary courage of our nurses and doctors who are the front line in this drawn out fight. They go to work each day knowing that this might be the moment when the virus grips them in its deadly grasp. Some of the best brains in the world are devoted to this cause but no one knows how long it will take to produce the miracle drugs which will cure and protect us from infection.

New York, the city that never sleeps, is finally taking a rest. This mighty metropolis has taken a hit. Its lights are not shining as brightly. Donald Trump may have been slow off the mark but has made serious efforts to get ahead of the curve. He is throwing huge sums at the problem and finally understands how dangerous this virus is to America and its lavish lifestyle. In first-world countries such as Spain and Italy, the underlying health of the population was expected to be good enough to see more resistance than we could eventually detect. These were not war-ravaged African hotspots or failed states, and that made the speed with which the virus spread look truly scary.

Halfway through April things are looking up. Death rates from those so far infected have not reached the doomsday lows some predicted. Whether there are weaker strains of the virus forming as it mutates is as yet unknown but Australians are putting up a heroic resistance.

One disgrace upon which a bright light has been shone is the utter uselessness of the World Health Organisation. Significantly funded by the United States, this pathetic apologist for the Chinese is in desperate need of reform.

The weight of the money the Chinese are throwing around the third world shows up again and again. The world expects Australia to maintain our interest and influence in the Pacific but we can never win a spending contest with China. Money speaks every language and can penetrate any culture. Trump is an isolationist and keeping his interest in this part of the world will be difficult even if we do have the ANZUS Treaty to rely on.

I will not live to see a new submarine fleet doing its part in defending Australia. The awarding of the contract and how it was signed ought to be the subject of a Royal Commission. All Christopher Pyne did was place a bet, albeit the most expensive one in Australian history, on our future defence. There are so many unknowns left that we have only a vague idea of exactly what we will finish up having delivered to us.

Let’s hope Pyne’s luck holds out.