Human Writes: Covid-19 lessons from 2020

A nurse in blue personal protective equipment in a Covid-19 ward in the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital in April. Nursing care can be the factor that clinches survival of Covid-19 yet nurses are underpaid, thus the global nursing shortage crisis. — AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star

As the door closes on 2020, many people are breathing a sigh of relief. There are jokes going around like this one: If historians made a film about 2020, it would be a nightmare.

This year did bring much misery and tragedy, not least 1.7 million deaths from Covid-19. Many more are struggling to survive. Over 200 million could fall into extreme poverty due to the pandemic, the United Nations has said.