In the case of Covid-19, no country is safe until every country is safe – a fact of our deeply interconnected and interdependent realities, say the writers. (Image: wikimedia / numista.com) Less The rate and global spread of infections by Covid-19 – and the related sense of panic across a globalised financial, political and social architecture – sets this particular pandemic apart from any other in modern times.
To date (26 March 2020), the total number of confirmed infections has reached over 416,686 in 197 countries with 18,589 deaths. In a matter of two months, Covid-19 has reshaped our ideas about being socially connected, economically entangled and existentially unprepared for radical change.
Quarantine and social distancing measures, travel bans and restrictions, closed regional and national borders, and health communications have been ratcheted up globally to reduce the chance of exposure as Covid-19 infections and fatalities continue to rise.
As China has demonstrated, only stringent aversion behaviour is able to control Covid-19’s spread. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has criticised some governments’ slow early response, especially those of advanced economies. They accuse these countries, especially in Europe and North America, of not understanding the science and the pattern of Covid-19, calling their early efforts at managing a public health emergency “too little, too late”( Oqubay, 2020 ).
Europe has now become the new epicentre of the virus after China’s measures to contain and control its spread show promising signs. Since March 2020, new cases of Covid-19 in China have dwindled to less than 1% ( Oqubay, 2020 ).
Covid-19 in Africa
The WHO says just over 2,455 positive cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in Africa ( WHO , 26 March 2020). Twelve countries in Africa are now experiencing local transmission and with vastly different population demographics, the shape and impact of Covid-19 in Africa could look very different from Europe, Asia and North America.
Testing kits and medical supplies have been shipped to several countries on the continent, enabling 45 African nations to now test for the virus, as opposed to just two at the start of the outbreak in January 2020. WHO has also been supporting government health ministries across Africa, training 36 Rapid Response Teams. The training aims to improve their surveillance and contact tracing abilities along with data collection, reporting and diagnosis ( Wang, 2020 ).
Africa’s health vulnerabilities
Covid-19 is said to affect the elderly more, but this […]