Global alarm over COVID-19 also known as Coronavirus . How did it began? How dangerous is it? What needs to be done now to protect public health.[ dur: 22mins. ]

* Paul R. Hunter is Professor of Health Protection at The Norwich School of Medicine at the University of East Anglia, UK. He is the author of Can economic indicators predict infectious disease spread? A cross-country panel analysis of 13 European countries, and Misinformation making a disease outbreak worse: Outcomes compared for influenza, monkeypox and norovirus.

Guest host Sam Smith examines the flourishing of conspiracy theories. What are they? How dangerous are they? [ dur: 35 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Matthew R. X. Dentith has a PhD from the University of Auckland and is an expert in the epistemology of conspiracy theories. He is the author of The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories.

* Patrick Stokes is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Deakin University. He is an expert in the ethics of conspiracy theories. He is the author of the book chapters Conspiracy Theory and Perils of Particularism, On some moral costs of conspiracy theory, and his blog article, Why Conspiracy Theories Aren’t Harmless Fun.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.