Are We Prepared for the Next PANDEMIC? The rise of the Coronavirus from China raises tough questions about the world's readiness for a global outbreak.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: Cover story

Last fall, a group created by the World Health Organization and the World Bank issued a report about whether governments are ready to cope with a new global pandemic. The blunt conclusion issued in the first paragraph of that report wasn't reassuring: "The world is not prepared."

There's a very real threat of a rapidly spreading contagious disease killing 50 million to 80 million people and wiping out nearly 5 percent of the global economy, according to the report.

"The world has become much higher risk, and we need to change our thinking accordingly," says Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. "The velocity of these outbreaks are increasing because we have bigger populations and they're moving around faster."

Those higher risks became painfully obvious in January when Chinese officials acknowledged the emergence of a new highly contagious Coronavirus in Wuhan, China. The virus infected more than 60,000 people and killed more than 1,300 in the first two months, with the death toll rising fast. It also spread to dozens of countries and prompted the Chinese government to lock down more than 57 million people to prevent its spread.

The Wuhan outbreak--likely originating from wildlife traded at a seafood market--had broad ripple effects. The World Health Organization declared a global emergency, though the number of Coronavirus deaths initially paled compared to the more than 10,000 deaths from seasonal flu this winter in the U.S. alone. A number of international airlines suspended service to China. Foreign countries, including the U.S., sent chartered planes to rescue their citizens stuck in the quarantine zone. Many businesses shut down temporarily, and foreign companies that depend on materials from China had their supply chains interrupted.

In Wuhan, hospitals were overwhelmed by thousands of people swarming emergency rooms. In their panic, many Chinese expressed their fears and frustration with the government on social media--rare under China's authoritarian rule--posting videos showing chaos at local hospitals.

"It is very scary," says Cai Pei of Wuhan, whose wife was sick with a cough and fever. She could have the Coronavirus but was turned away from a hospital. "If it's real, we have a child and elderly parents at home. What if we all get sick?"

There was a run on surgical masks, not only in China but also around the world, including in the...