The war against Covid-19 is also stress-testing our limits as a species

I haven't visited my children or grandchildren for nearly a year and a half, neither have they visited me. They live in the USA, and I in Europe. Since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a travel ban on non-citizens from either side to the other. It was lifted on the last day of the Trump administration in office, only to be re-imposed by the Biden administration on its first day.

Countries in Europe, which once introduced free travel among themselves, have been erecting barriers to protect their people from the onslaught of the coronavirus. At some point last year, Portugal was inviting tourists with the claim of being a Covid-free country. Soon, however, neighbouring countries in Europe included it in their so-called "red list", as the rate of infections there surged.