South Africa has utilised the opportunity provided by the COVID-19 pandemic to consolidate its regional leadership and augment connections with major external partners like India.

The uncertainty brought about by the pandemic would at best have a limited and short-term impact on the US-Iran hostilities. For the time being, the chances of escalation may be limited but the rivalry is here to stay.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities of the international system, particularly those of multilateral institutions. When the much spoken borderless threat became a reality, the multilateral institutions were found not only unprepared but acting in a self-destructive mode.

An informed scenario would be to release the weight of unsustainable debts, allowing the developing countries to focus on domestic sustainable development aimed at achieving climate neutrality, instead of developed countries’ over-emphasis on fossil fuel in their economic recovery packages.

Driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic challenges for India emanating from the Gulf region are highly imminent and discernible.

It might be difficult to prove any weaponisation intent or man-made origins to the SARS-CoV-2. Yet, the mass deaths and disruption caused by the virus forebodes imminent exploitation of biological agents for political ends.

In the last 20 months of his rule, Prime Minister Imran Khan has not only failed to solve his people’s problems but also has made the life of the common man miserable.

Humanity is much better equipped today to mitigate the loss in life and collateral economic damage resulting from a pandemic, as demonstrated through the deployment of new-age tools such as artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning, neural networks and internet of things.

It is the need of the hour that India and the African countries collaborate to control the outbreak of the pandemic and to mitigate its long-term economic impact.

Although initially the Maoists suffered some setbacks due to the lockdown, their indulgence in violent incidents over the past one month indicates that they are exploiting the situation to have an upper hand vis-à-vis security forces.