The Covid-19 Catastrophe: What's Gone Wrong and How to Stop It Happening Again

by Richard Horton

This expanded, updated, and completely revised edition of The COVID-19 Catastrophe is the authoritative guide to a global health crisis that has consumed the world. Richard Horton, editor of the medical journal The Lancet, scrutinises the actions taken by governments as they sought to contain the novel coronavirus. He shows that indecision and disregard for scientific evidence has led many political leaders to preside over hundreds of thousands of needless deaths and the worst global economic crisis for three centuries.

This new edition provides a systematic discussion of the pandemic's course, national responses, more transmissible mutant variants of the virus, and the launch of the world's largest ever vaccination programme.

Only now are we beginning to understand the full scale of the COVID-19 crisis. We need to learn the lessons of this pandemic, and we need to learn them fast, because the next pandemic may arrive sooner than we think.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Stem

180 pages, ebook

Published January 14, 2021

Reviews

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant book and it's enlightening to read the truth about recent events free from the bias of the right-wing media, right-wing politicians, and the conspiracy theorists.

The author is Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, which has published much of the research describing the human impact of Covid-19.

The author looks at the actions governments took and more importantly didn't take, to try and combat this virus. What hit me was how little action governments in the West took compared with their counterparts in most of Asia and how disastrous this inaction turned out to be for their populations.

The Chinese seem to have learned a lot from the SARS outbreak of 2002-03 and as soon as officials in Beijing were notified about the virus in Wuhan in early January 2020 they passed this information on to the the World Health Organisation. The role of opthalmologist Li Wenliang in alerting people to the virus can't be underestimated, though the Wuhan Communist Party did try to gag him, making Li sign a statement saying he would stop spreading 'rumours' about the virus. This story makes you wonder how long the virus was circulating in Wuhan prior to Li's alerts.

The WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern 4 weeks later and the world was put on alert. Certain countries acted more quickly than others. One of the slowest was the UK government run by that chancer Boris Johnson who did nothing for 5 weeks apart from say that herd immunity was the way to go before doing one of many U-turns.

Richard Horton highlights the good and the many bad aspects of this pandemic and tries to look on the positive side and how we can learn from this as a planet. It's to be hoped we can elect politicians who prioritise equality and people over favouring the wealthy and profits. It's up to us to elect the right people otherwise another pandemic will happen again in a few years.

It's ironic that the latest geological period has recently been called the anthropocene, dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, and yet along comes a virus to show that we're not as indestructible as we thought.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The COVID-19 Catastrophe was written by the editor-in-chief of The Lancet. Most of the papers I needed to cite in my dissertation on tuberculosis were published in The Lancet, if the name doesn't mean anything to you; it's a prestigious medical journal, and Horton himself has a medical degree and a BSc in physiology. He knows whereof he speaks, in other words, and in this book he tears into the failings of governments (mostly the UK, somewhat the US) in coming to grips with the pandemic.

He is very clear in discussing these failings, though he more or less ignores the idea that China had any role to play here. There's one brief reference to the doctor who tried to raise the alarm and was cautioned by the police, if I remember correctly... but if he does mention it at all, it's a very bland reference with no further digging into why that occurred, and whether if people had listened at that point, we'd be in this position now. That's a pretty grave lack.

If you're curious for his position on matters in the UK, here he doesn't hold back. I needn't go over it all again, but suffice it to say that our government was slow to react, loath to give things the weight they deserved, and too quick to lift restrictions. People have died, are dying and will die as a result of the government's actions; they are massively culpable for a lack of leadership and clarity. And he doesn't even have to get onto the mess with Dominic Cummings, probably revealed as the book was already going to press.

The final section looks at what we can do to handle future pandemics better: as he rightly points out, this is only the first, and more are inevitable. Other books have done a better job on the whys (Spillover, by David Quammen) and hows (The End of Epidemics, by Jonathan D. Quick), but it's not a bad high-level summary.

I do worry that one of his final remarks (that COVID marks an end to "sovereignty") is going to be a massive red button for some people that leads them to just ignore everything he says. I don't think he's wrong; I think fragmenting into separate nations with wholly different ways of handling the virus is far from ideal, and I think the WHO has too little power (it has historically received so much of its funding from the US that its policies always have to consider "will this annoy the US?" first and foremost) and funding. We need more unity, not less, if we want to have all this trade and mixing of peoples between different countries... which Britain needs, because we don't produce everything we need... and that call for unity clashes really badly with current politics.

But them's the breaks. Pandemics don't give a fuck about Brexit. If anything, it makes it easier for them as it erodes cooperation, goodwill and information-sharing.

[Tripfiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Covid-19 Catastrophe is not the sort of book that we would normally cover on TripFiction. But we were sent a copy by the publisher and asked if we would review it. It is an indictment of the approach to the Covid-19 pandemic by Western democracies – especially the UK and the US..

Richard Horton is not just anyone. He is Editor in Chief of The Lancet, one of the UK’s most prestigious medical journals. He knows what he is talking about. And our editorial team wanted to offer his book a broader platform as it is something relevant to every human being.

Many thousands of lives have been lost because of the actions taken, or not taken, by governments. Western governments were woefully unprepared for what eventually hit them. News was coming out of Wuhan in January that this disease was very different, but the warnings were ignored. Governments felt it was going to be a ‘flu like epidemic, but it was nothing like ‘flu. They were complacent and they dithered. Despite warnings over the years, and significantly because of austerity measures following the financial crash of 2008, we were unprepared. PPE was in extremely short supply, and procurement efforts in the early part of this year were slow and lacklustre. In the UK, at press conferences in April and May, we were told that everyone on the front line who needed PPE had it – those telling us this were either disingenuous or deliberately misleading us. We were told governments were following the science, but there were many different scientific opinions out there. In the UK (despite later government denials…) we started off following a policy of herd immunity. It was only when quite horrific death rate forecasts emerged, that this policy was dropped, We also now hear the importance of Track and Trace. But back in April, Jenny Harries (Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England) said that testing was not for the UK – despite the very clear evidence that it was keeping the pandemic much more under control in South Korea, Taiwan, and other Asian nations. The UK was extremely slow off the mark. Yes, the Asian countries had the experience of SARS to draw on but Western countries could also have learnt from their experience. Only really Germany in Europe seems to have got it right – there were disasters in Italy, France, and Spain… as well as in the UK.

The US also sadly provides a very clear lesson on what not to do. Trump gave very mixed, very confused and very confusing messages from Day 1. And he very clearly (and unfairly according to Richard) blamed China for not being open with the world. There was no national policy in the US. Lockdown regulations came in state by state. Democratic governors, such as Andrew Cuomo in New York, took a very hard line and took it early. Many of his Republican counterparts were much more relaxed in imposing lockdown, and many lifted restrictions much more quickly. The consequences of this are perhaps now (as I write) being seen quite clearly in states like Texas or Florida where cases are again rising. The argument between civil liberty and the common good is a fine one… and has not been helped by the fact that trust in government in many Western democracies has been very much weakened. People do not believe what they are told (and very often with good reasons)…The citizens of countries in Asia do much more ‘as they are told’ – and the consequence has been lower infection rates and faster recovery.

Finally to quote from the conclusions at the end of Richard’s book:

‘Covid-19 is not an event. Instead it has defined the beginning of a new epoch. It took a virus to connect us in life and in death. We understand now, I think, our extraordinary interdependence and unity as a species. Yet our world is organised and ordered by separation, by partition – countries and continents, languages and faiths, political systems and ideological allegiances.

We surely have to use this occasion to resist and challenge the past mood for estrangement and prejudice. We have to use this time for solidarity, for mutual respect and mutual concern. My health depends on your health.

Richard says there will inevitably be further global pandemics. The big question is whether we will have learnt any lessons and whether we will be ready for them. The jury is out.

The Covid-19 Catastrophe is a very sobering read.

[Venky · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most reputed publications in the annals of medicine, “The Lancet” recently published a controversial study based on Surgisphere data, that demonstrated enhanced death rates in COVID-19 patients being administered with the drug Hydroxychloroquine. Touted indiscriminately and inanely by President Donald Trump as a “miracle drug” against the COVID-19 pandemic, the use and the unfortunate, abuse, of the drug had stirred a disproportionate amount of global interest. The Lancet study however, led to the World Health Organisation (WHO) issuing directives to terminate global trials of Hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 in May, based on the study’s startlingly adverse findings. However, the proof in this instance, was not to be found in the pudding. The study was hastily retracted post a Guardian investigation where researchers unearthed damning inconsistencies in its data, courtesy a database owned by Surgisphere. The New England Journal of Medicine also retracted a study with findings based on Surgisphere data and a third paper involving Surgipshere and Desai – the author or co-author of all three studies – holding forth on the impact of the drug ivermectin on Covid-19 patients, was excised from the website SSRN, a repository for scientific papers.

Richard Charles Horton is the editor-in-chief of The Lancet, and an honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University College London, and the University of Oslo. In his newly published book titled, “The COVID-19: What’s Gone Wrong and How To Stop it Happening Again”, this much acclaimed and respected man of medicine tries to pry open the scientific and political causes behind the viral spread of this dangerous pandemic before dissecting its potential socio-economic consequences. However, the lofty title belies the content that succeeds it. Although thought provoking and deeply introspective in some parts and a fount of good advice in some others, “The COVID-19 Catastrophe” is frankly speaking, a disappointment. The greatest let-down of the book lies in its treatment of China. In the diverse continuum of rich conspiracy theories, astringent, albeit methodically researched criticisms and everything in between, China’s role in the entire pandemic, has at best been, suspect, and at worst, downright complicit. However, Mr. Horton seems to eat out of this behemoth’s hands. All that China receives from this expert of medicine is a mild rebuke instead of even a reluctant rap on its condescending knuckles.

As Mr. Horton himself informs his readers, China made a capital hash of handling the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1), when it first reared its ugly head in 2002-03. The former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland, who was heading the WHO at that time, was extremely critical regarding China’s efforts (or rather a complete absence of them to reign in the epidemic and to share information with the rest of the world). Mr. Horton, however, asserts quite ebulliently, that China has learnt its lessons and has done an exemplary job in so far as reigning in COVID-19 is concerned. “After enduring the global opprobrium following its handling of SARS, Chinese leaders invested heavily in their universities, and specifically in their capacities for scientific, technical and medical research. Confronted by a new virus, Chinese scientists were ready, equipped and swung quickly into action. They reported the first 41 cases of COVID-19 in The Lancet on 24 January. The Chinese team was led by Bin Cao, a professor in the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the China–Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing. He assembled groups in Wuhan and Beijing which began to put together the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory and radiological data from this initial group of patients. Bin Cao and his colleagues provided the first case descriptions of symptoms and signs for COVID-19, an essential and urgent resource for doctors around the world facing patients with an unfamiliar type of pneumonia. They made the connection between the illness and exposure to the live-animal market. They described how a third of patients had to be admitted to intensive care. They calculated the average time from the onset of symptoms to ICU admission (10.5 days). They showed that patients often had blood profiles that revealed serious cardiac, renal and liver injuries. Chest computed tomography produced images that were abnormal in every case. One pattern of investigation was particularly disturbing – elevated levels of cytokines that constituted a ‘cytokine storm’. The Chinese team described how some patients needed invasive mechanical ventilation and a special means to oxygenate blood when the lungs failed – a technique called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. They also described how 15 per cent of the patients admitted to hospital had died. The contrast between this impressive response and China’s pitiful efforts during SARS in 2002–3 illustrates the remarkable scientific renaissance that had taken place in the country in just two decades. Bin Cao’s team was not only able to gather state-of-the-art data on these early patients but also encouraged to write up their work, publish it free from censorship in foreign English-language medical journals, and make their findings available to others – all within weeks of the first reports of the new disease. The cultural, as well as the scientific, shift that had taken place in China was monumental”.

The only feeble complaint against China takes the form of a reproduction of a letter from an anonymous writer who prefers to address herself as Moon, that bemoans the appalling situation in Wuhan as a result of the virus running amok. Whilst a gleeful China is the recipient of such a warm Panglossian warmth, the United Kingdom received a stinging rebuke – and deservingly so. At the onset of the pandemic, the UK Government was being advised by a group of scientists, who upon hindsight, turned out to be so ill-advised about the very pandemic regarding which their advice was urgently sought. This resulted in both the administering and the administered running around like headless chickens. This should not have been the case. The extent of preparedness in the United Kingdom ought to have been much higher. “Exercise Cygnus” a scenario planning for a pandemic influenza outbreak took place in the UK as long back as in October 2016. “Pandemic influenza is top of the UK government’s National Risk Register. A pandemic is deemed the most severe civil emergency risk to our society. The same is true for most Western democracies. The result of Cygnus was a stark warning: UK preparedness was ‘currently not sufficient to cope with the extreme demands of a severe epidemic.”

In early March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired COBRA, the civil contingencies committee that is convened to handle issues of national emergency. “After that meeting, he agreed that COVID-19 presented ‘a significant challenge’. ‘But we are well-prepared,’ he said. Was Johnson aware of Exercise Cygnus and its clear conclusion in 2016 that the UK was most definitely not well-prepared? If he was, he lied to the public. If he was not, then he is surely guilty of misconduct in public office. Remember: a pandemic is top of the UK’s National Risk Register. A prime minister should reasonably be expected to understand the capability of his country to address the most severe civil emergency risk. The best that Prime Minster Johnson could do was advise handwashing. He was still arguing that the UK ‘remains extremely well-prepared’ on 3 March. On ITV’s This Morning he said, ‘Perhaps you could sort of take it on the chin, take it all in one go and allow the disease, as it were, to move through the population without really taking as many draconian measures. I think we need to strike a balance.’ He displayed his own disregard for the risks of infection by regularly shaking hands with those he met – and bragging about it afterwards. Herd immunity.”

‘Is the government’s objective to suppress infection or to manage the infection?’, asked Sir David King at the first press conference of a newly formed Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), held in May.

Mr. Horton is also scathing in his indictment of the United States. He illustrates the inexplicable and jaw dropping shenanigans of President Donald Trump from expressing denuded denials about the seriousness of the pandemic to cutting off all funds to the WHO. In fact, he reproduces Trump’s speech in full, wherein he makes the incredulous decision to deprive the WHO of all funding. The WHO itself has been a peculiar study in contrast. From issuing perplexing guidelines on asymptomatic patients, before retracting them to introduce an even more bewildering element of pre-symptomatic patients to the COVID-19, confounding mix, to halting drug trials based on suspect data, it can be safely said that neither the WHO nor its Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus have covered themselves with glory.

The most interesting part of Mr. Horton’s book deals with the unfortunate, yet unavoidable socio-economic and civic chasms formed as a result of the pandemic and the disturbing results such divisions have produced. Quoting from the works of Michel Foucault, Slavoj Zizek, Samantha Brooks, Jacques Ellul and Didier Fassin, Mr. Horton bemoans a loss of empathy and an alarming rise of divisive politics that could have undesirable societal ramifications. Mr. Horton employs a very interesting metaphor “panopticonisation of society” to describe the various contact tracing apps that are making the rounds, and which inadvertently might possess an element of intrusion into the most private lives and details of its users. However, Mr. Horton offers five sagely conditions complying with which such apps may turn out to be beneficial.

Commitment by the government to universality, and inalienability – privacy protection must be accorded to everyone;
Indivisibility – our rights are interdependent. It is not for the state to determine which rights it will and will not guarantee;
Equality and Non-Discrimination – all human beings are equal in their dignity;
Transparency – Governments must be open about information and their decision making
On the whole “The CovID-19 Catastrophe” falls short of what it actually could have been considering the wisdom and versatility of the author.

[Peter Tillman]

Here's Nature's detailed, tells-all review of this new & controversial book:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
"Since the coronavirus crisis began, Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of leading medical journal The Lancet, has been tearing across the British public sphere. Here he is on the BBC, the national broadcaster, there in the pages of The Guardian newspaper — taking the government to task for failures that have left the United Kingdom with the world’s second-highest per capita COVID-19 death toll so far (Belgium is top). Horton has never shied away from controversy (his journal published the retracted, fraudulent paper by Andrew Wakefield that alleged a non-existent link between vaccines with autism) or crusades (against the Iraq war and for political action on climate change). In coronavirus, he has found a cause that matches his energy ....

.... Horton goes further, to suggest that although scientists in general have performed admirably, many of those advising the government directly contributed to what he calls “the greatest science policy failure for a generation”.

Again using the United Kingdom as an example, he suggests that researchers were insufficiently informed or understanding of the crisis unfolding in China, and were too insular to speak to Chinese scientists directly. The model for action at times seemed to be influenza, a drastic underestimation of the true threat of the new coronavirus. Worse, as the UK government’s response went off the rails in March, ostensibly independent scientists would “speak with one voice in support of government policy”, keeping up the facade that the country was doing well. In Horton’s view, this is a corruption of science policymaking at every level. Individuals failed in their responsibility to procure the best scientific advice, he contends; and the advisory regime was too close to — and in sync with — the political actors who were making decisions. “Advisors became the public relations wing of a government that had failed its people,” he concludes."

Interesting. Not sure if it's something I really want to read, but admirable review!

[Isabel Straw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant, thorough and essential analysis of the UKs Covid response. This is a vital read if we are going to prevent future pandemic catastrophes.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book is a needed balance to the steady stream of misinformation that pervades the media, especially social media.

Richard Horton is the former scientific editor of the British Medical Journal and someone in a position to make informed observations of the early events of the pandemic. It is important, not to mention useful, to review the actual facts of when China, WHO, and various governments actually recognized and responded to the emerging crisis, rather than accept the politically motivated narratives that are and excuses that are still being put out.

The point is made that the risks of the disease are not borne equally by all: "COVID-19 exploited and worsened already existing inequalities in society."Loc 477 Decisions to let the virus spread and keep the economy open, by seeking herd immunity, ignores the fact that that means a willingness to sacrifice those at the margins-the elderly, the socially and economically disadvantaged. In Horton's view: "The science and politics of COVID-19 became exercises in radical dehumanisation." Loc155 and "Every death was evidence of systematic government misconduct-reckless acts of omission.."Loc158 Science advisors are not exempt from his criticism as he sees them as having become: "...the public relations wing of a government that failed its people."Loc977

"COVID-19 has provided us with an opportunity to rethink the ethical basis of our society...What we face now is not only a political predicament of enormous proportions. We also face a moral provocation."Loc1956

[Dan Jacobson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read in preparation for Jeremy Farrar’s addition to the ‘isn’t-the-government-terrible-but-it-had-nothing-to-do-with-me’ canon.

The majority of this short book, maybe 75-80%, is simply unpleasant to read, not just because it is clearly a rushed job, but also because it is essentially a basic rehash of everything we were reading up until its publication (early June 2020). The rest, however, is this absurd combination of banal platitudes and the blatant, toxic finger-pointing which he himself slams as a key reason for why our international Covid-19 response was lacking.

Chapter 6 is particularly egregious in displaying Horton’s astonishing lack of self-awareness. Firstly, he describes how uncertainty was a key characteristic of the whole pandemic, yet is unwilling to factor uncertainty into literally any decision he mentions in the rest of the book, additionally claiming that politicians and scientific advisors had access to all necessary information and were simply in cahoots with each other. He then extends this line of thought into how the voices of dissenters were silenced, even though he also lauds independent SAGE earlier in the book, an organisation created solely to provide a dissenting voice, even if this is not constructive.

Horton does address how he, as editor of the freaking Lancet, tweeted at the end of January that coronavirus has ‘moderate transmissibility and relative low pathogenicity’. He describes the government statement following his challenging of them prior to lockdown 1 as ‘extraordinary twisting of the truth, Kremlinesque in its audacity’ which is, frankly, hilarious. It isn't difficult to read a tweet before you send it. Especially when you are the editor of the freaking Lancet.

What this book represents, most dangerously, is the first example of someone during the pandemic borderline bragging about the extraordinary power and influence they possess whilst, simultaneously, complaining about their powerlessness in solving this problem, even though they allegedly knew where this was going all along. Cummings recently continued this tradition and, now, its Farrar’s turn (particularly exciting, with him being one of the SAGE members who Horton believes is responsible. Drama!).

[Patricia Cherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book.

I bought this book because I wanted an unbiased, honest explanation of what actually happened. And I got that and more.

After explaining the nuts and bolts of how, the last chapter nearly had me in tears, with his concerns about the future, because it is written from the heart.

I would like to see it offered at a lower price to give the opportunity to everyone, not just those who can afford it.

But it is one of the best investments for me, and I hope that many more will see it as that. I have already shared it on Social Media, I will do so again. If people ignore this book and it’s author it will be a wasted opportunity, to let common sense prevail.

I noticed a few typos but as an author myself I understand the need for haste with getting it published. Striking while the iron is hot.

[Teleseparatist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of reasonable analysis, somewhat outdated (at least the edition I read) but still valuable, and depressing of course.

[Ian Pierce-Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Filled with righteous anger over the dithering by Governments; compassion for those that have died and lived through the virus and reflective and positive about the potential for the future. Should be a must read for all.

[Thomas Wikman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the book discusses the policy responses to the covid-19 pandemic. The good, the bad and the farcical
The good: Germany, South Korea, New Zeeland, Taiwan
The bad; UK, Italy, Spain, France, Brazil
The farcical: The United States

Richard Horton a physician, professor and the editor-in-chief of The Lancet a medical journal in the United Kingdom, wrote this fairly short book (140 pages) on the SARS-Cov-2 virus and the resulting Covid-19 disease pretty recently (published June 1, 2020). He discusses corona viruses, four which are just the common cold but also the extremely dangerous SARS-Cov-1 (SARS 2002 pandemic), MERS-Cov, and the new one SARS-Cov-2.
He describes how it likely started (jumped from animals in a live-animal market in Wuhan). The first known cases occurred in December 2019. Beijing informed the WHO December 31 and on January 3rd they reported 44 cases. WHO created a formal notice of an outbreak on January 5th. China suppressed information and even lied to WHO about having stopped it. However, Chinese scientists were bravely sharing information and they sequenced the SARS-Cov-2 DNA and shared it with the world by January 12. When it became clear that there was a pandemic and a severe threat to the public WHO issued a PHEIC (basically a pandemic alarm) on January 30. In Dr. Horton’s opinion this was very quick. WHO took eight months to issue a PHEIC for the last pandemic (Ebola). He strongly rejects the Trump administration’s critique of the WHO. However, Dr. Tedros controversial praise of China probably didn’t help.
He discusses the responses of various countries to the Covid-19 disaster. The public health response that was needed was clear – surveillance (with mass testing), early detection, isolation, contact tracing, quarantine, and accumulating a surge capacity within the healthcare system (including PPE materials). Some countries did it right, many countries messed up with dire consequences (see above). His main focus is on the United Kingdom and NHS, his own country. However, he seems to save his harshest words for the Trump administration. The United States was spectacularly unprepared largely due to actions taken by the Trump administration. In addition, Trump downplayed the threat (it is a hoax, only 15 cases soon 0, it’s under control), Trump facilitated the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories, astonishingly withdrew the US from the WHO, and talked about injecting people with disinfectant. This is why Dr. Horton calls the US response pitiful, surprising, lamentable and a farce.
Richard Horton also discusses what is known (as of June 1), not known (which is a lot), the perils and positives of a lockdown, how the future of Covid-19 may look like, how we should respond to the next pandemic, and the perils of positives of how society may change as a result of Covid-19. He discusses the plight of healthcare workers and the disadvantaged. He says one thing I think people need to acknowledge. The limited testing we’ve been doing likely underestimates the number of cases. The number of deaths is a more reliable statistic. We are drowning in misinformation, conspiracy theories (the infodemic), nonsense and politicizing of covid-19. This book cuts through all the garbage and explains what actually happened. Therefore, I am really glad I read it. However, it is a short book that probably will need a second edition in a few months as what we know changes and expands.

[Geoffrey Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book serves as a first draft of the history of the COVID pandemic. It is written by Richard Horton, the editor of “The Lancet”, the British medical journal. It is a hazardous undertaking to write about a pandemic that is still in full force, with outbreaks continuing around the globe. There will be research done on the virus, and how public health officials, the scientific communities, the politicians, and the general public behaved and performed as COVID-19 spread around the world. But Horton bravely starts the conversation, and provides some insight into how the Wuhan outbreak was handled by Chinese officials scarred by the SARS outbreak in 2003. Despite some delays, he is generally impressed by their reaction to the outbreak. He is far more critical of the Western response to the signals being sent out by China, then eventually by the WHO , about how serious this virus is. Weeks were lost in February and March, meaning the health care system was ill-prepared and ill-equipped to face the onslaught, and thousands of lives were lost as a result. Writing from a British perspective, he is highly critical of the Johnson government and the complicity of certain public health officials who failed to fully grasp the nature of the pandemic. Obviously, he is critical of the American response and the failed leadership of Donald Trump.
No doubt there will be inquiries and debates over these and many other aspects of the management of the Coronavirus. Some of Horton’s conclusions will be nuanced or discredited. But he has given some food for thought as we prepare (perhaps) for a second wave. On one conclusion I share Horton’s observations about time lost in late January and February. I have no expertise as a public health manager, but as a citizen I started to get concerned when Chinese officials in Wuhan built a 1000-bed hospital in TEN days. Clearly they were spooked, and we should have been too.

[Coffee & books · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written, a diatribe why the UK government was bad. India and China were presented as models, this was before seeing people dying in the streets in India and in 2022 China is still in lockdown. He couldn't have known this when he wrote the book, that's true and that's why some humility is needed.
The blurb mentions: "We need to learn the lessons of this pandemic, and we need to learn them fast, because the next pandemic may arrive sooner than we think." Well, he should have learned that making statements about how countries deal with a pandemic during a pandemic is only speculation.

Also, he made a list of countries with recorded deaths, because US and UK were at the top, and he really hates the right-wing politicians. Well, US and UK did have a high death rate, and the governments made mistakes, but the data should have been put in context - per-capita or, even better, using excess deaths because not everybody counts the deaths in a similar way. Political views should be kept in check when it comes to science, as much as possible. He failed.

For more insight into what he believed about COVID, check his tweet from 24 Jan:
"A call for caution please. Media are escalating anxiety by talking of a “killer virus” + “growing fears”. In truth, from what we currently know, 2019-nCoV has moderate transmissibility and relatively low pathogenicity. There is no reason to foster panic with exaggerated language."

[Vinnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much like to read about history.
After it happened.

When years pass, experts in their respective fields work tirelessly to structure the heaps of information, so that a wider audience gains access to these insights.

Sadly, when history is happening in front of you, you don't have that luxury. Every day, we get bombarded with new 'facts', studies, stories, ... that are too much for any one person to take in. It is absolutely vital that every citizen gains at least some level of understanding of the current situation, but with contradictory information and bad reporting, that is easier said than done.

Richard Horton is The Lancet's editor-in-chief, which puts him at the forefront of scientific communication at a time when scientific literacy can save lives. That is why I appreciate this little book immensely. If you have been following the situation, you're not likely to learn anything new, but presenting months of chaos in an accessible paperback that can be read in a couple of hours is no mean feat. There are likely better books waiting to be written, but at this time, where so much is left to figure out, I would batch order a pile of these and hand them out on the streets. The infodemic is as serious as the pandemic.

[Andy Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short but brilliant book does exactly what it says on the cover. It highlights what went wrong with the global (and national) response to Covid-19 and outlines what needs to be done to stop it happening again. Lancet editor, Richard Horton, knows his stuff and spares no one in his excoriating critique of governments’ actions in dealing with the pandemic. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson get particularly bad reviews but it is Horton’s description of the global drift towards isolationism and nationalism that should be most worrying in the fight against future pandemics. The book’s main hope - that the crisis will usher in a new era of social and political relations based on cooperation and mutual solidarity - is as optimistic as it is laudable. You have to hope that Horton’s optimism is well placed, otherwise the world and its people face an uncertain and dangerous future when the next pandemic hits, as it surely will.

[Robert West · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the same time disturbing and inspirational

This is an extraordinary piece of scholarship and writing. It is about COVID-19 but about much more than this. It is about science, politics, ethics, and the future of civilization. Like many people working in public health, I was concerned by Richard Horton's early criticisms of the UK government's and it's advisors' handling of the crisis. Not because I thought he was wrong in substance but because I thought a more constructive tone would have been more helpful. I was wrong and he was right. The UK government's, like that of the US and Brasil, has shown itself to be deaf to constructive criticism. Those of us who care deeply about the future if our society have to steadfastly oppose and we have to make Richard Horton's positive vision of what a post COVID-19 world could be like a reality.

[Ismahani Abdullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is nonchalantly narrating and reminding what had happened since the first pandemic of COVID-19 to happen. The author partitioned into a few chapters and each of them is short-precise and concise comprehensions. The division of point he discussed is appropriately listed making me understand easier 'oh this is another point' and not mixing up.

The book is sharing the stories throughout the world that can be taken as lessons for perhaps upcoming pandemic, any good move to absorb, or bad actions to avoid.

As non-native speakers, love the use of adjectives in this book. It might help me in writing better way next time.

[Mario Calvo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una visión médica y filosófica de la pandemia

Un momento de detención en medio de la pandemia. Muestra en forma explícita los grandes errores, la mínima capacidad para darse cuenta de ellos y la enorme capacidad que tenemos como sociedad de culpar a otros de nuestras fallas. Propone visiones sociales del futuro que solo el tiempo mostrará si las gentes somos capaces de comprender e implementar.

[Andres Varela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Escrito por el editor de la revista "The Lancet", es un muy buen resumen de lo que ha sido el manejo político y sociaL de la pandemia, de tantas cosas mal hechas, de tantas vidas pérdidas por culpa de pésimos gobernantes, de las malas cosas que vienen y de lo que podemos hacer para intentar mejorar esto.

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, punchy, and timely, The COVID-19 Catastrophe is an incisive book that documents the staggering failures of Western Nations in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020...

[Nayab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure if it was so because the subject matter is very familiar, and therefore not entirely novel to me, but I found the book rather cursory and repetitive. The last 2 chapters were not bad, but I still think this could have been condensed into an article (maybe even in the Lancet itself) instead of dragged on into an over-priced and already now outdated book on the pandemic.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So refreshing to have the incompetence of government responses to the pandemic, and the mixed record of medical science, explained and critiqued by an eminently humane and particularly competent figure. Hopefully we listen, avoiding the false choice between medically illiterate crackpot speculation and government cheerleading.

[Alison Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important critique of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic which contributes to our record of this time. Difficult reading at times as impacts are laid bare but there is some hope and optimism in what we might do differently in future.

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horton's quickly published analysis of world health measures and the global geopolitics played in their shadow is certainly timely, but I wonder if it not occasionally overly simplified or under-argued. Whatever else, it is a short and accessible read.

[Kernmd · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts off well, with a review of what happened, with good scientific background facts. Clearly the US and UK failed to respond, and the 2 countries suffered greatly because of the lack of leadership. The last third of the book waxes on; philosophy is not great reading.

[Awendt06 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short read about the beginnings of COVID-19 and the national and international responses to this global pandemic in the first 6 months. A good read by a very reputable source (Richard Horton - editor of the Lancet) looking back and looking forward to the next pandemic.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This balanced scientific and political analyses well. Simultaneously pressingly important and already starting to become outdated, I'm glad I read it at this moment, in the middle of continued decisions about COVID-19 and both old and new concerns and research related to those decisions.

[Mark Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good recap of the early stages of the pandemic and how governments and NGOs reacted. Quite opinionated. This was the first edition, bought and read in August 2020 before mutations and second waves, so there may need to be a new edition in due course.

[James Tidd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book. Horton wrote this whilst in the first lockdown. Whilst it could do with adding to, so to bring it up to date, Horton tells his readers how China dealt with the virus and how many countries just didn't respond to what was, and still is a very serious SARS virus.