Preparing for the next pandemic - and dealing with the current one

A new strain of virus is airborne. Veer Arjun Singh reports on the debate that follows the inevitable outbreaks

Our guard is up. Security officials in protective suits, some equipped only with face masks, are India’s first line of defence at major airports. They are armed with thermal guns, a non-contact, infrared thermometer to screen passengers. Thermal imaging cameras that detect heat in a crowd back them up at strategic checkpoints. The protocol directs officials to identify and isolate people arriving from China who record a body temperature above 100.4 degree Fahrenheit and quarantine the ones who have more pronounced symptoms of a general flu — a cough, body ache, shortness of breath, etc. More than 40,000 people at