The Coronavirus, July 9 -- which has claimed the lives of over 538,000 people and infected more than 11.6 million worldwide-has destabilized virtually every facet of human life ever since its outbreak in late December.

Providing a grim economic scenario of the devastation caused by the pandemic- including rising poverty, hunger and unemployment- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week of the possibility of an even worse disaster: the risks of bioterrorist attacks deploying deadly germs.

He said it has already shown some of the ways in which preparedness might fall short, "if a disease were to be deliberately manipulated to be more virulent, or intentionally released in multiple places at once".

"So, as we consider how to...