New history

Throughout history, the world has witnessed many deadly diseases and epidemics, some of which were epidemics confined to specific countries or geographical areas, and some were global epidemics or what is called a “pandemic”. These epidemics claimed the lives of tens, or even hundreds of millions, and caused demographic, social and economic changes throughout the world, including pandemics that changed the course of history.

Many epidemics did not say a threat to the Corona virus. Despite its health risks and its rapid spread, like the Ebola epidemic in Africa, for example, governments and international organizations, led by the World Health Organization, have managed to overcome these epidemics thanks to a large-scale mobilization, waiting to know the fate of this epidemic or find remedial drugs to eliminate it.

People’s methods of dealing with these epidemics and responding to them differed according to the time period and the available resources. The effects of these epidemics on the societies they invaded have also varied.

The most famous and deadly of these epidemics in ancient and medieval times was the Black Plague (the Black Death), the Plague of Justinian and the Plague of Emmaus in the Levant Region. In the modern era, we find cholera, smallpox, Spanish flu and other epidemics.

The effects of the outbreak of the Corona virus are great panic in the world due to the expansion of its geographical area and the emergence of new infections almost every day in many countries, especially the Arab ones,

As this pandemic forced most of the countries of the world to close themselves, including the application of home quarantine and the ban on transmission and stopping the appearances and activities that we were brought up on, which created real crises in various aspects of life around us.

It also caused a change in the political and economic course of countries, and the deficiencies that plagued the health and social sector of countries emerged, and despite the resilience of some countries to the rapid spread of the epidemic, today they suffer from a severe lack of financial and logistical capabilities to complete their severe war against its remnants on the economic and social sector. The immediate economic impact of the pandemic was evident, which contributed to the development of a global emergency plan and the activation of precautionary and solidarity measures that would protect economies from potential harm.

While some experts believe that a crisis of this magnitude can rearrange societies in dramatic ways for better or worse, depending on what will be based in the future on methods of dealing with risks and the variables that this crisis will create.
But this epidemic, which first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December, has approached the number of deaths in a million.

The rate of infection and recovery may decrease in countries that take into account health precautions and precautionary divergence, with gradual descent into the labor market in a thoughtful manner, and evaluation of performance from time to time, as for countries that witness a state of health chaos in the face of the virus, they may witness collapses and social disintegration that is not appreciated. Consequences.

Where the crisis has different impacts in multiple areas, including the economic field; An unprecedented contraction occurred in all countries around the world, the percentage of which varied according to the readiness of each country and the strength of its economy, and the unemployment rate increased dramatically, especially in countries with fragile, not diversified economies.

Socially, according to the reports of UNESCO, inequality affects certain groups more than others, such as the unemployed, daily workers, women, refugees, people with special needs, the elderly, the sick, in addition to those who live under occupation, or in war zones, or In countries experiencing economic collapse or political unrest.

For these reasons, the impact of the Coronavirus is expected to be more severe and dangerous in the “global south”, where societies suffer from the highest levels of inequality and instability.

In addition to these epidemics, there are other diseases that claim millions of lives annually, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Although they kill millions of people, they are not treated as epidemics that pose a threat to the world because they do not transmit the infection from one person to another. In addition to the injury of millions of children and the death of hundreds of thousands of them annually due to diseases resulting from malnutrition and poverty, the vast majority of them in the continent of Africa.

However, this does not receive international attention nor is it highlighted by the media to the extent that it occurs when an epidemic spreads, despite The number of victims of some of these epidemics is very small compared to the victims of hunger, poverty and wars.
It is noteworthy to look at a statistic made by the World Health Organization in (May) 2020 indicating that the world population is 7 billion and 783 million, the birthdays of this year are 48 million, Corona deaths approached one million, regular deaths 20 million and 165 thousand, deaths due to water pollution 300 thousand, and deaths Because of alcohol 2 million, deaths due to cancer 2 million and 816 thousand, deaths due to smoking 2 million, car accident deaths 500 thousand, deaths due to suicide 400 thousand, deaths due to AIDS 600 thousand, and deaths of children less than 5 years 2 million and 606 thousand, And deaths due to influenza 650 thousand, and infectious disease deaths 4 million and a half.
The pandemic has forced Arab societies to return to accepting the importance of experience and science, and society’s confidence in science and scientists has also increased, so all societies saw the effects of the coronavirus immediately and knew the importance of real scientific research.

With every pandemic that hits the world, a new history of humankind is written and a different map is drawn up for the economic, social and political balances of countries. What the world is experiencing today as a result of the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a picture similar to the repercussions of most pandemics and epidemics that struck humanity through different historical eras.