Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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Covid-19 first became manifest in China in late 2019 or early 2020. The severity and potential consequences in the absence of treatment or vaccine, was at first not realized, or perhaps not taken seriously by those in politics or commerce, even if it had rapidly dawned on those in pharmaceuticals businesses and among university departments engaged in epidemiology and virology.

By March 2020, it had finally been realized in the United Kingdom. The government announced a total lockdown on March 23, 2020. There were intermittent lockdowns, in varying degrees, and social restrictions or guidance in the U.K. over the following two years, largely until Feb. 24, 2022.

Certain international travel restrictions and testing requirements persist even now. Global trade has been severely adversely affected. Even now, writing this article in late autumn 2022, China began addressing the severe lockdowns it had implemented, now facing strong resistance, which continue to affect global trade, given the huge importance of China in the importation of primary commodities and components, and exportation of finished-product goods.