A  Test of Our  Humanity

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 .