COVID-19 Crisis Will Alter World Order Says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader and Wayanad MP said on Wednesday, that the current coronavirus pandemic will alter the existing world order. The Congress leader in a dialogue on the coronavirus crisis with renowned public healthcare expert Dr Ashish Jha of Brown University and epidemiologist, Professor Johan Geisecke of Karolinska Institute in Sweden, pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to operate at the level of the healthcare system and was simultaneously attacking existing global structures.

Rahul Gandhi remarked that the worst-hit places by the current pandemic are the nerve- centres of globalisation, implying that first world countries were most badly affected. He predicted that we would see a new world emerging after this pandemic plays itself out.

In Rahul Gandhi's words "if 9/11 was a new chapter....this is a new book." The Wayanad MP remarked that he had a sense that large urban centres would be badly affected and that communities have to brace themselves for a lot of pain.

Professor Ashish Jha remarked that high temperatures in India appeared to have no effect on coronavirus from the evidence that was available. Professor Jha also said that testing capacity had to be increased for checking the transmission of COVID-19.

Significantly, he also said that the theory that Indians are relatively more immune to Coronavirus because of BCG and other vaccinations appears to be inaccurate. He pointed out that there was very little evidence to back up this theory.

Rahul Gandhi has been holding a series of dialogues with world thought leaders on the COVID-19 crisis and how it would impact the Indian economy. The Wayanad MP had conversations with Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee and former reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on previous occasions.