News of the evacuation at the end of January from coronavirus-hit Wuhan including 83 British and 27 EU mainly Spanish citizens was largely overshadowed, in the British and Spanish media at least, by coverage of the UK’s official exit from the EU. Nonetheless reports focused on the evident sense of relief felt by some of the evacuees at getting out , as well as a sense of uncertainty about their health prospects..
The only certainty about the coronavirus itself is that it has affected not inconsiderable numbers in China, enough to present the communist regime with a major medical an well as social and political challenge, and that, although much fewer cases have been recorded in other countries in Asia and Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency – largely because of fears that poorer countries might not be able to cope with an outbreak.
In China, the authoritarian nature of the state has allowed it to move with extraordinary speed to build new emergency hospitals and somewhat chillingly to quarantine a city of 11 million people and then 16 cities with a combined population of 50 million.
The jury is still out on just how negligent the Chinese state has been in failing to heed warnings about the virus at a much earlier stage, with a lack of transparency and accountability reminiscent of how the Soviet communist apparatus dealt initially with Chernobyl.
But this is already a story of contrasting attitudes which speaks to our collective conscience : one compassionate and cooperative, the other intolerant and less than generous.
In the former category I would put a gathering at Madrid Barajas airport earlier this week where Britain’s ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliott rolled up his sleeves and helped supervise the transport to China of half a million protective gloves and other medical supplies, the latest airlift of such assistance coordinated by the British and Spanish governments.
I may have missed something but the event has gone almost unreported in the media, and I only knew about it from Elliott’s recent Instagram feed.
A day earlier he had put on his best uniform to join other accredited ambassadors at the Royal palace to hear King Felipe extending a message of solidarity and support to the Chinese to help deal with and overcome their medical emergency.
Then there was the BBC’s John Simpson tweeting a few days ago that he was on his way to his favourite restaurant in London’s Chinatown as he had no wish to join those treating the Chinese as untouchables.
Sadly the darker side of humanity has been showed by outbreaks of prejudice against the ‘yellow peril’, from Chinese being banned from access to restaurants, to some pernicious video feeds going viral on social media with lurid claims about Chinese eating and sanitary habits.
One such feed was mentioned in a particularly heart rendering account in yesterday’s FT by my former colleague Patti Waldmeir from the US who reported how her adopted daughter had told her that she was afraid to cough in class because she was Chinese and how transfixed she was by a TikTok video of an Asian woman eating a bat and being blamed for the virus.
There is a long history of anti-Asian prejudice, but also of humanity showing its best and worst side when it comes to dealing with a range of viruses and diseases.
I remember back in the 1990’s visiting a leper colony in Egypt when the authorities at the time wanted to keep journalist away. I will never forget the kind doctor who encouraged me to visit, shake hands, and talk to some of those in his care, and what a humbling experience it was to be with them and be in touch with their humanity.
I knew that things had been far worse. Back in the 1950’s the colony north of Cairo, which was established in 1933, was an isolated community, its occupants, shunned by the rest of society , forced to live there after being taken from their homes by the security forces.
But thankfully significant medical advances, international cooperation, and a sea-change in social attitudes towards leprosy have led to patients being cared for, and much of the stigma removed, although enduring misconception about how the disease is transmitted has in the past put up barriers to integration.
The coronavirus is putting the test the international community’s ability to set politics and national self-interest aside in the cause of the common good , ensuring that honest health information is shared , and that progress can be made in understanding and dealing with the virus with the best that modern medical research and practice can offer , and yes- with compassion .
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