Is worst yet to come? Lessons from the globe
Foreign passengers are directed to a screening point upon arrival at the Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania on February 8. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- China’s restrictions were eased when the number of infections began to decrease in mid-April, but by May, new infections were reported, forcing the country to impose lockdowns again.
Countries such as Austria and Denmark, acted early and ensured that their infection rates were under control.
A trade-off between saving the economy and saving lives has been the dilemma for leaders globally, in regards to lifting movement restrictions imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Some countries have eased lockdowns, only to experience new waves of infections and a spike in deaths, forcing them to return to lockdowns.
Some countries have done so before even with the World Health Organization (WHO) providing proof that it was possible to flatten the curve of infections with social distancing. In lifting some restrictions, countries like China, South Korea and Germany faced setbacks as the infection rates increased sharply.
China’s restrictions were eased when the number of infections began to decrease in mid-April, but by May, new infections were reported, forcing the country to impose lockdowns again.
FLATTENED
South Korea quickly flattened its curve of infections after mass testing, contact-tracing and restrictions of movement, but it took one reveller in Seoul to spur another wave of cluster infections, forcing the government to impose fresh restrictions.
The WHO criteria for lifting restrictions are testing, treatment capacity and adequate supplies of protective gear. The UN agency also insists on the need for evidence that the virus is being suppressed.
“There is a lot of work still to be done, from countries where there is exponential growth to places that are loosening restrictions and now starting to see cases rise,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said at a briefing Friday as the number of infections in the US climbed to a new high. Kenya has not even tested half a million out of its 50 million population and the President himself has admitted that the country is not ready to tackle a rise in infections.
“By re-opening Nairobi, Mombasa and Mandera, we are more at risk than we were when the restrictions were in place,” he said.
LOCKDOWNS
Countries such as Austria and Denmark, acted early and ensured that their infection rates were under control.
Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government research shows that Austria and Sweden introduced lockdowns when they had fewer than 1,000 cases and almost no deaths. When France and Spain began theirs, their case count was closer to 10,000 and their death tolls in the hundreds.
South Korea and Germany began testing their populations in the early stages of the crisis with Germany testing more than 500,000 weekly by end of May.
This means the number of people Germany was testing per week is more than double the number of people Kenya has tested since the very first day that the virus was reported.
By Saturday, July 11, the total number of people tested in Kenya stood at 207,787.
