Opinions & Interviews

Opinion: World community proved unprepared to combat novel virus together

Yuri Shevtsov

MINSK, 19 February (BelTA) – The international community has proved unprepared to fight against the new virus, COVID-19, Yuri Shevtsov, Director of the Center for European Integration, said at a regular meeting of the Expert Community project “Coronavirus: Economy of Fear” in BelTA’s press center on 19 February.

Having faced the challenge of an epidemic in China that could turn into a pandemic, humanity proved to be unprepared for it. “Now is a period when the world's centers of power are focused on themselves,” said the expert, citing as an example the policy of U.S. President Donald Trump, the Juncker plan in the European Union, and so on. “This has resulted in mankind's failure to provide a response it would have produced some five or ten years ago,” he added.

When the world faced the HIV epidemic, a global movement kicked off to overcome the disease. The same steps were taken during the SARS and Ebola cases. The United Nations, community initiatives joined in to address the problem. “Today, Nobel laureates are silent, even Greta Thunberg speaks nothing. All those who used to raise their voices in the interests of all mankind, unite people, remain silent today,” said Yuri Shevtsov.

The expert believes that the period of self-focus is temporary. “Some five years will pass and several regions on the globe will witness a breakthrough, the fourth industrial revolution. Then the new centers of power will again resume an active foreign policy,” the director of the Center for European Integration said.

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