The COVID-19 Catastrophe

This expanded and updated edition of The COVID-19 Catastrophe is the authoritative guide to the global health crisis that has consumed the world. Richard Horton, editor of the medical journal The Lancet, scrutinizes the actions taken by governments around the world as they sought to understand and contain the novel coronavirus and shows that their failure to respond quickly, and their often cavalier disregard of the emerging scientific evidence, had disastrous consequences. Taking account of the latest developments, this new edition has been expanded to include a systematic discussion of the unfolding of the pandemic in different countries; an analysis of the second wave, its causes and consequences; and an up-to-the-minute discussion of vaccines, treatments and testing. 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.