In the first pandemic of my professional career – HIV/AIDs in 1981 – there was a pattern of inequalities around poverty, exclusion and geographical location that we are seeing across the globe with COVID. This has meant with HIV/AIDS that more than 40% of the estimated 36 million people who have died within the last 30 years have come from Africa (even though this continent is home to approximately 15% of the world's population).

The emergence of the Omicron variant reminds me how important effective management of a communicable disease at a global level is – for all countries – particularly one that is in droplet form and airborne.