COMMENT | After more than three months of the global reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are seeing the folly of our short-term panic and production of PPE equipment from gloves to masks and gowns in a global attempt to contain the virus and spread of infection.

Short-sighted reaction because this was not a systemic solution, a fact that is now horrifically evident in the massive shoals of masks, washing up on the shores of the Mediterranean, the mountains of plastic and PPE adding to an already overburdened plastic disposal load and who knows what happens to the discarded rubber gloves?

With all eyes on Covid-19, it is worth remembering that we are simultaneously facing the threat of our own extinction as a species brought on precisely by such use-and-throw behaviour and planetary overload.

As many businesses and economies collapse across the world, no longer viable without customers, the PPE producers are among the key businesses that are laughing ...