For anyone saying that we could not have seen this coming, a pandemic has been at the top of the UK Risk Register since it was created a decade ago. Highest impact and near highest likelihood.

Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61934/national_risk_register.pdf

As @cabotinstitute Director I worked closely with Sir John Beddington, our Advisor and former UK Chief Scientist. He repeatedly stressed the importance of being prepared for this.

And yet governments here and abroad have de-funded the exact structures we would need to adapt quickly to such a crisis. De-funding the NHS here; and the disaster of public health funding in the USA. After this, we need to re-build a stronger and more just society.