Published by
The Bangkok Post
The Bangkok Post
Covid-19 has exposed the limited ability of health systems around the world to cope with a pandemic of respiratory infection. With the official death count from Covid-19 now over 5 million, and the unofficial count estimated at up to five times higher, the struggles of health systems everywhere have been evident. What is less clear is how the world could have been so blindsided by Covid-19. Respiratory diseases have long been the leading infectious cause of death globally. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, an estimated 2.5 million adults and children died from pneumonia each year. No other infec…