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Five years on, have we learned the lessons of covid-19?

Science initially struggled to match the pace of the pandemic, leaving people unclear of the best ways to stay safe from the virus, but now we know so much more – which could be essential when the next pandemic hits

By Penny Sarchet

1 January 2025

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Looking back on the covid-19 pandemic

Not touching your face. Panic-buying toilet roll. Disinfecting groceries. Some of the advice and behaviour of the early days of the covid-19 pandemic can, in retrospect, seem utterly bizarre. But when an unknown virus swept rapidly around the world, we were engulfed by questions – how does it spread, who is most at risk, how can I avoid catching it and just how bad is this going to get – that the instruments of medical science couldn’t immediately answer.

“None of us could comprehend the scale and broad societal impact of this, the speed at which it developed,” says …

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