Making sense of Covid-19: Panic looms large, perspective is in short supply

The disease could go down several paths. One possibility, the least likely, is that it will just disappear. The most likely is that it will have seasonal impact

The coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease Covid-19, is much less lethal than earlier scourges like Nipah or Ebola. But it is lethal nonetheless, and has dealt a hard knock to the global economy. It has also infected global mindspace in appropriately viral fashion: websites dealing in the hardcore now feature videos of people making out in quarantine, wearing hazard suits and masks!

China, where the first cases emerged, is the world’s industrial hub and home to one-sixth of its population. Excellent transport linkages led to a quick spread and once China took emergency measures to self-quarantine, global supply chains