Is Covid-19 the great leveller?

WHEN the novel corona-virus first started spreading like wildfire, people called it the "great leveller".

No respecter of status or economic background, Covid-19 affected people at all strata, from housemaids to Hollywood royalty; peons to prime ministers. Tom Hanks, Boris Johnson and an aide to US Vice-President Mike Pence all contracted it.

Even more upsetting were the stories about how medical staff in England came out of retirement to fight in the hospital frontlines, only to succumb to the disease. It was a grim reminder that all humans are, at our core, similarly vulnerable.