At best, if developed countries manage to organize and coordinate to prevent second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world could return to normalcy in two or three years. The forecast is pointed out by António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations (UN).
On the other hand, in the worst case scenario, it anticipates a “disaster for the southern hemisphere” and “a second wave in the north with dire economic consequences”. In an interview with the newspaper El País, António Guterres also points to a “global depression of five to seven years”.
However, he stresses, it is too early to predict what the post-pandemic world will be like. The secretary-general expects the crisis to be a wake-up call, to teach society to tackle global problems together. «The divisions are real and we have to change this situation», he says.
Imagining a future virus, which has contagion levels as fast as the coronavirus and a lethality rate as high as Ebola, countries will even have to find a way to work together.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 494,000 deaths and infected more than 9.82 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
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