Growing Complexity of Viral Challenges

KOMPAS/JUMARTO YULIANUS

Journalists take a video recording of the isolation ward on Tuesday (3/3/2020) at Ulin Regional General Hospital in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. The isolation ward has been specially equipped to treat coronavirus patients.

For more than two months, the world has been observing the spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes the deadly Covid-19 disease.

Several people in Indonesia and thousands of others around the globe are receiving intensive care for Covid-19. Several thousand have recovered, a few thousand have lost their battles, while others are still fighting the severe acute respiratory disease.

We have been advised to boost our immune system in the fight against SARS-CoV-2, especially since a vaccine is still under development. Some reports say that China and Israel have developed a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, but are still gathering scientific evidence.

In the history of humankind, we have been repeatedly confronted with frightening natural challenges. These threats have affected not just people, but also agricultural plants and domesticated animals.

As for coronaviruses, we have learned with the emergence of the SARS virus in 2003, then the MERS virus in 2012 and this year, the novel coronavirus.

Physically, for example, the human body was finally able to overcome a number of infectious diseases with the discovery of penicillin. Similarly, the development of new insecticides enabled a number of rice pests to be conquered. As for coronaviruses, we have learned with the emergence of the SARS virus in 2003, then the MERS virus in 2012 and this year, the novel coronavirus.

Recent history shows that the human beings were eventually able to conquer a variety of bacteria and viruses. However, on looking at the journey of human civilization, our "victory" over viruses is temporary because there will always be a new challenges from newly emerging viruses that are no less frightening. This cycle of problem, reaction and solution resembles the principle of dialectics that is often associated with the views of the German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

A standing banner provides a QR code for downloading the Jakarta Health Office’s public information on COVID-19 during Car Free Day on Sunday (8/3/2020) in Central Jakarta. The health office provided four information points on Jl. M.H. Thamrin to raise public awareness and encourage the public to participate in the citywide efforts to combat the novel coronavirus.

The key is our perseverance in research and development. This spirit is needed more than ever in the present and in the future, given the increasingly complex challenges we face. On observing how Covid-19 spreads, we can comment that it is a fruit of globalization. Developments provide many opportunities on the one hand, such as international trade and tourism and the global economy. On the other hand, we are also confronted with this global reach when a virus spreads.

In addition to globalization, global warming also plays a role as a result of human activity in burning fossil fuels on a massive scale. The increasingly unhealthy environment, warming in the polar regions – which has exposed animal carcasses under the receding ice and snow to release a variety of new germs into the air – are among the new sources of disease caused by changes in the global environment.

Right now, our focus is to contain the spread of Covid-19. We are mobilizing all resources to stop the virus’s spread and to help patients recover. However, along with this, we must also learn from this event: Let us not become a nation that is poor at learning.

Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro

President Joko Widodo (left) and Vice President Ma\'ruf Amin (center) prepare to open a limited Cabinet meeting on Monday (9/3/2020) at the Presidential Office, Jakarta. During the meeting on the macroeconomic framework of the 2021 fiscal policy and work plan, the president instructed his ministers to recalculate the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.

From what we have seen so far, we appear to be completely lacking in the provision of various medical tests and facilities for isolating suspected cases or treating confirmed cases of Covid-19. It is time for us to encourage our scientists to be more active in researching tropical diseases and infectious diseases that constantly plague the world. We have a lot of homework to do, so let us not neglect it.