The writer, a former prime minister of Italy, is chair of the WHO’s pan-European commission on health and sustainable development

When the new coronavirus emerged in China and spread around the world, there was a sense of shock. For many governments, the scale of the required response seemed unimaginable. Yet it soon became reality. Today, thanks to the development of a range of vaccines, many countries are looking forward to life returning to normal. But is this what we should be aiming for? It was the old normal that created the conditions for the virus to emerge and spread in the first place. Surely we can do better.

Future generations will not forgive us if we fail to learn the lessons of this pandemic. So, last September, the World Health Organization’s European director Hans Kluge set up an independent commission to explore what a “new normal” might be. The commission comprises individuals from across Europe and from multiple disciplines, from politics and economics to health and science. In our interim findings, published on Tuesday, we call for a fundamental rethink of policy priorities and international governance along five main lines.