Coronavirus – Scientific insights and societal aspects

¹ Institut Camille Jordan, UMR 5208 CNRS, University Lyon 1, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
² INRIA Team Dracula, INRIA Lyon La Doua, 69603 Villeurbanne, France.
³ People Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), 6 Miklukho-Maklaya St, Moscow 117198, Russia.
⁴ Department of Mathematics & Statistics, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India.
⁵ International Prevention Research Institute, 18 Chemins de Cuers, 69570 Dardilly (Lyon), France.
⁶ Department of Biosystems and Soft Matter, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland.
⁷ School of Mathematics & Actuarial Science, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
⁸ LAMA, University Gustave Eiffel, UPEM, University Paris Est Creteil, CNRS, 77447 Marne-la-Vallée, France.

^* Corresponding author: volpert@math.univ-lyon1.fr

Received: 2 April 2020
Accepted: 2 April 2020

Abstract

In December 2019, the first case of infection with a new virus COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), named coronavirus, was reported in the city of Wuhan, China. At that time, almost nobody paid any attention to it. The new pathogen, however, fast proved to be extremely infectious and dangerous, resulting in about 3–5% mortality. Over the few months that followed, coronavirus has spread over entire world. At the end of March, the total number of infections is fast approaching the psychological threshold of one million, resulting so far in tens of thousands of deaths. Due to the high number of lives already lost and the virus high potential for further spread, and due to its huge overall impact on the economies and societies, it is widely admitted that coronavirus poses the biggest challenge to the humanity after the second World war. The COVID-19 epidemic is provoking numerous questions at all levels. It also shows that modern society is extremely vulnerable and unprepared to such events. A wide scientific and public discussion becomes urgent. Some possible directions of this discussion are suggested in this article.