Responding to COVID-19: What’s the Problem?

This commentary argues that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic should be considered as a transdisciplinary societal challenge that requires coordinated systemic thinking and actions in the context of uncertainty. Responses to the propagation of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and the health, economic and social impacts of Covid-19 are complex, emergent and unpredictable. We describe the virtuous relations between three prerequisite conditions—multilevel governance, knowledge and types of resources and individual and collective behaviours—that should be combined in transdisciplinary responses.