The writer is vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford

Over a year ago, Oxford university scientists anticipated the potential impact of the emerging coronavirus and believed that they might be able to produce an effective vaccine. The speed with which they were able to do so was due, in part, to 20 years’ worth of work on infectious disease with colleagues in Africa and Asia. Given their experience in the developing world, they knew just how devastating a global pandemic would be in poor countries and what a risk this would pose to the rest of the world.

Many of their worst fears are coming true. Globally, we may have not yet reached the peak of the pandemic; the death toll could exceed 9m by September. The heart-rending scenes from India showing the devastating consequences of Covid-19 pose a challenge to the conscience of the world.