The melting permafrost of Siberia exposed live anthrax spores in the remains of long-dead animals. What other possible triggers are there for another pandemic?

The pandemic revealed a great deal about our weaknesses (and strengths) in the face of global disaster. As hospitals filled with the infected, frontline healthcare workers dressed in bin bags to treat patients, and we stood in the streets to clap and bang pots together in appreciation. Everyone who could stayed at home, missing birthdays and funerals. Rule-breakers were held up like compromised ants before the rest of the colony. 

The Covid outbreak showed us the best in ourselves – but it also tested our sense of justice. We agreed to follow the rules, but with the proviso that, in doing so, we would eventually be allowed to take our masks off and moan about it over a pint. This was 21st-century ‘blitz spirit’: we were going to get through this together because ultimately normality was what we...