Australia's island identity and attitude to border security was forged from handling pandemics since the time of federation. Here's what we've learned along the way.
Despite disappointing download numbers and almost zero success in tracing COVID-19 infections, Australia is persisting with the COVIDSafe app, while the rest of the world embraces the 'Gapple' model.
A Cholera Patient, Random Shots No. 2. Cartoon by British satirist Robert Cruikshank, circa 1832.
(Wellcome Library)
Pandemic histories are useful for understanding COVID-19, but how they connect with race, public health, revolution, labour and colonialism are needed to explain the present and predict the future.
People have lived with infectious disease throughout the millennia, with culture and biology influencing each other. Archaeologists decode the stories told by bones and what accompanies them.
A COVID-19-type pandemic had long been predicted, but our warnings weren't heeded. We need to start rethinking our approach to health now – even in countries like New Zealand.
Jako Nice, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
The study of two hospitals was a first for researching the microbiology of the built environment in South Africa – a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding how to design healthier buildings.
As restaurants and cafes re-open, here's what you can do to limit the chance of coronavirus transmission.
A woman uses her feet to pull herself along in a wheelchair among cherry blossoms at a homeless camp at Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver in April 2020 that was recently evaculated due to COVID-19. The coronavirus has exposed and fed upon other societal issues in true ‘syndemic’ fashion.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
When two or more epidemics co-exist and compound one another to worsen health, they are said to be syndemic. COVID-19 is feeding on other crises and diseases.
Don't spit, change out of your kit at home and clean match balls. These are just some of the ways sport is changing as restrictions ease.
A market area in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, crowded with people despite the coronavirus pandemic, May 12, 2020.
hmed Salahuddin/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Robert Muggah, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and Richard Florida, University of Toronto
COVID-19 is spreading fast through not only the world's richest cities but also its poorest, ravaging slum areas where risk factors like overcrowding and poverty accelerate disease transmission.
In the United Kingdom, where the population is now confined, a man wearing a mask walks in the street on March 26, 2020.
Oli Scarff/AFP
Fabrice Flipo, Institut Mines-Télécom Business School
The pandemic, in that it represents a major and therefore exceptional risk, calls for a response built collectively, and not by a small group of experts or decision-makers.
The typically crowded Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, now nearly desolate in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.
Getty Images / Victor J. Blue
Human psychology has evolved to avoid situations that could lead to infection. Behavioral choices now could have long-term effects on how people interact with others and the world.
Even if you’re feeling fine, you might be infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
John Lamparski/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
Lord May was an illustrious scientist, a towering figure in the British establishment, and a quintessential Aussie. His theories help explain everything from complex ecosystems to financial markets.
Nurse Cheedy Jaja in Sierre Leone in 2015, where he helped treat patients with Ebola during the West Africa outbreak.
Rebecca E. Rollins/Partners in Health
A recent study suggested the coronavirus could spread up to four metres. But the evidence isn't strong enough to suggest we should change social distancing advice from 1.5 metres.