Abstract

The first reports of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection emerged from Wuhan city in Hubei Province, China, in December 2019. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease caused by SARS-COV2 pandemic. This was not the first time that humanity faced a pandemic. In the last two decades, the world has witnessed several pandemics, such as SARS in 2002, Swine Flu in 2009, and Ebola in 2013. It may sound ironicity, but globalization, urbanization, environmental change, and greater mobility of people and animals have increased the potential for ‘global transmission of epidemics’ (Saunders-Hastings & Krewski, 2016). While the higher frequency of pandemics has contributed to an increase in human mortality and social apprehension, pandemics have also led to transformational changes in environmental, societal, and health systems research (Hall et al., 2020). Therefore, pandemics have been disruptors but also our teachers. However, despite all the experiences of tackling the pandemic, the announcement of yet another pandemic in 2020 created chaos, uncertainty, ambiguity, and anxiety across the globe.