Rethink the Future

Is Coronavirus a Chance to Reset the World?

The Black Death of 1349 wiped out more than 50% of England’s population - but it also helped end the Hundred Years' War between England and France. The Spanish flu of 1918 claimed more than 50 million lives globally, but it also gave us a much better understanding of infectious diseases and spurred the development of public health systems. And both the National Health Service and the United Nations were set up soon after the Second World War. The BBC's Amol Rajan looks back through history at how crises have often led to profound changes in society, and imagines how the coronavirus pandemic might transform the world.