 World over, despite the mixed response of governments, the people continue to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Healthcare workers, those in the food and transport sectors, those in the sanitation sector, agriculture workers, the billions who run the world are the most exposed to the vagaries of the disease but have nonetheless kept things ticking. In this episode of Around the World in 8 Minutes, a show by People's Dispatch, we look at global responses from the left and progressive organizations to the social issues that are rising from this pandemic. Let's take the case of Brazil as an example. The number of cases is reported to have crossed 300 in a country where the government of Jair Bolsonaro was clearly slow to respond. Like in many countries, municipal and state governments have been closing public works and offices, companies are directing workers to work from home, and schools have suspended classes. However, for 41.4% of laborers in the country, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the crisis will harm their livelihoods in the absence of formal contracts. If they do not work, they do not earn. Speaking to Brazil de Fato, lawyer Claudio Duceo Dondis, who also works as a ride-sharing app driver, explained his predicament, where on the one hand, there was no possibility of stopping work, while on the other, there was the fear of infection. In fact, those like him are working extra hard to earn the same amount as the number of rides has decreased. Clemente Gans Luzio, director of the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Social Economic Studies, said that this would lead to a socioeconomic tragedy, since informal workers have no safety nets against the impact of a health crisis, adding that 80 to 100 million could be affected as people won't be able to feed their families. The economists also urged the need for executive action to help informal workers. People are being forced by the state to isolate themselves at home, so the state has to give them something in terms of income, something they can eat. This is at a short-term level, he told Brazil de Fato. Other proposals include emergency mechanisms such as extensions on debts, electricity bills, and property taxes. Credit lines for the affected people and some sort of guarantee by the state like a subsidy are other proposals that the economy suggested, warning that many of these have to be put in place in the coming weeks. Infectious diseases expert Marcella Viria also spoke about the need for safety nets for precarious workers, adding that strengthening the national health system and research at public universities were other long-term steps that could be taken. Some of these ideas and demands are made by trade unions too. Europe has now become the epicenter of the pandemic. As country after country moves into lockdown mode, major trade unions in the continent issued a joint statement on March 13, demanding that the European countries put people's lives before profits in order to tackle the crisis. The unions included sections of the General Confederation of Labor, the CGT from France, the All Workers' Billiton Front, Parme from Greece, the Union's Indical Debates, USB from Italy, and the CUT of Spain. The union said that the coronavirus situation demonstrated the tragic consequences and risks to people's lives from policies that treat healthcare as an issue of individual responsibility and as a field of enormous profitability. They pointed out the role of understaffing of public hospitals and services, lack of infrastructure, underfunding, and a severe shortage of medical and nursing staff, as among the reasons many countries are not prepared to deal with the crisis. The unions also said that the EU guidelines that have dismantled people's social security, prevention and healthcare systems for the benefit of big healthcare insurance corporations are responsible. The unions asserted that profits cannot be put ahead of workers' lives, especially in a period of crisis. They have made a set of demands, including full staffing of hospitals and services, increased public spending on health, supply of necessary instruments and provisions for safety, paid leave so workers who are ill, stoppage of evictions, special care of migrants, and state-sponsored free and university healthcare, as among the steps necessary. They also hailed the heroic contribution of medics, nurses, and other hospital staff and security and sanitation workers across the world who have been tirelessly working to save people's lives from the pandemic. In India, where the number of cases is cross 150, the Gen Swasti Abhyan, which is the people's health movement, and the All India People's Science Network have made a series of demands similarly to strengthen the public health services to safeguard livelihoods and to save lives. The organisation said that India is particularly vulnerable because of high degree of past neglect of public health services and privatisation of healthcare. Another point of vulnerability is the fact that large section of the country's population continues to struggle to meet their basic necessities. The 13-point charter by the organisations includes healthcare-related demands, demands about social distancing and human rights, and demands urging the government to redress economic inequity as a cause and consequence of the pandemic. The organisations have urged the government to expand testing facilities for COVID-19, an important demand that the WHO has also been calling for. It has said that the Union Government must rapidly strengthen the public hospitals to prepare public health services for a surge in patients requiring healthcare and hospitalisation. There is also a need to ensure that all existing medical facilities are under a centralised district authority, including private hospitals. Allocation of medical facilities will have to be done by this authority and not by market mechanisms. The organisations have stressed the need for social distancing to be done by public education and persuasion and have recommended against coercive measures. A good example of such a strategy is the Break the Chain campaign of the Government of the State of Kerala, which is already one praise for the way it has mobilised various sections of society in combating the pandemic. The organisations have also stressed the need for active community support and outreach services for those who are in home quarantine, those whose social security benefits are curtailed due to closure, or those having difficulty in accessing essential services. Many children will need access to supplementary nutrition programmes, more so when their parents' livelihood is compromised. Shutting down such services without providing for alternatives would be unfair. Another key demand has been that the special measures in the event of a quarantine do not abuse core human rights. Governments need to actively engage human rights institutions, civil society organisations and trade unions to inspect and report back on the standards of care and the problems that the most vulnerable sections are facing. Another important issue is the freedom of media at a time when governments are likely to curb this freedom. The organisations pointed out that while news media must be encouraged to keep to expert sources, any blanket ban on media freedoms is unwarranted and should be resisted. And finally, the organisations pointed to the vital importance of safeguarding the livelihoods of the majority. They call for special support for those whose livelihoods are compromised by the lockdown. This special support includes an immediate increase in public expenditure, as well as increased social security and food security measures. Further concessions to corporate industry to counter the crisis they are also facing and further austerity for the working people would be most counterproductive and iniquitous the organisation warned. The spread of the coronavirus and the challenges it poses ask fundamental questions of capitalism itself. Capitalism has always been a system that enriches the few at the expense of the many. There is no count of the loss of life, the destruction of opportunities that this system has wrought. The spread of the pandemic has only brought many of these issues to the fore. For the left, for all of us, the coming weeks and months bring this challenge. Can we unite and make sure that our governments and those in power deploy the vast resources available to us in an equitable manner? How do we ensure that the most vulnerable do not get sacrificed and that their lives and livelihoods are protected and their futures preserved? What does social justice mean in the time of a pandemic? In the coming weeks and months we will try to bring you some of these stories and answers to these questions. Stay safe, everyone.