The COVID-19 Catastrophe

This expanded, updated, and completely revised edition of The COVID-19 Catastrophe is the authoritative guide to a global health crisis that has consumed the world. Richard Horton, editor of the medical journal The Lancet, scrutinises the actions taken by governments as they sought to contain the novel coronavirus. He shows that indecision and disregard for scientific evidence has led many political leaders to preside over hundreds of thousands of needless deaths and the worst global economic crisis for three centuries. This new edition provides a systematic discussion of the pandemic’s course, national responses, more transmissible mutant variants of the virus, and the launch of the world’s largest ever vaccination programme. Only now are we beginning to understand the full scale of the COVID-19 crisis. We need to learn the lessons of this pandemic, and we need to learn them fast, because the next pandemic may arrive sooner than we think.

Preface to the Second Edition Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1 From Wuhan to the World 2 Why Were We Not Prepared? 3 Science: The Paradox of Success and Failure 4 First Lines of Defence 5 The Politics of COVID-19 6 The Risk Society Revisited 7 Towards the Next Pandemic Epilogue Notes