Vulnerable and those with underlying health conditions,” Mirror added, “deaths of young and healthy people are now being reported daily”- referring to some cases that happened there.
Apart from individual cases, it is also true that the virus has been attacking nations indiscriminately. Militarily and economically strong nations, who were swift in sending aids to disaster affected areas, are now struggling themselves and rather looking for themselves.
The whole reality shows that all human beings, be it world leaders, military officers, billionaires or celebrities are all appear to have been prey for the virus.
Under such difficulties, reports coming out so far regarding developing countries appear to have been quite misleading. And several reasons could be cited for that.
In reaction to the outbreak of the coronavirus in Africa, when African Ministers of Finance held their first meeting online, 633 cases of the virus were confirmed, in 35 countries with 17 deaths. On its second meeting days later, the number had risen to 5,318 confirmed cases and 175 deaths across 46 countries.
The Ministers confirmed that appropriate measures were being put in place to mitigate the spread and negative effects of COVID-19. They emphasized that the priority was to save lives by continuing efforts to raise awareness, managing the social consequences of social distancing and lockdowns, focusing on the most vulnerable population groups.
That was it. One can see the difficulty African nations are in. They do not have the financial resource to purchase medical equipment, the way industrial nations do, to fight the virus. Even if they try to commit maximum expenditures, the world market competition is so tough that all western and middle-east countries would dry them up.
The most viable option reserved for African nations is exercising the new norm – “social distancing”. But, even this one is not as such easy for them to implement. For Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, total lockdown for Addis Ababa was very difficult mainly for economic reasons. City’s Mayor, Takele Uma highlighted the difficulty. In the construction sector alone around 400 thousands of daily labourers, mainly young people, would have been forced to stay at home without any essentials for their survival, he said.
Under such compelling factors, countries like Ethiopia have focused on other lessor evils-sanitation, specifically hand-washing, which may not still be easy for people with little access to water and social distancing – which is not easy for culturally interdependent society.
In line with this, federal and regional states introduced various measures. Schools, religious and other public places have been closed. Public or official gathering has been banned. Even public transporters have been ordered to cut number of passengers by half and limit service time. Bars and restaurants have been ordered to give service in line with proclaimed distance. Night clubs and local beer houses to cut number of customers were forced to close early in the evening.
The government has also laid off most of public servants or ordered them to work from their homes.
Supporting the government moves, the public individually and in groups are engaged in a number of voluntary services, which this nation can really boast of. Business companies and individuals are donating in large amount; voluntary groups are rendering supports to the poor and the needy; engaged in vast awareness creation activities and so on.
While the government and the public are doing their best to make each member of the society becomes self-disciplined and implement the necessary precautions, culture and tradition are making it difficult to combat the pandemic.
Hiding from legal enforcement bodies, individuals continue to maintain their typical Ethiopian social interactions. Public servants, who were supposed to stay at home, took the opportunity as annual leave tend to execute their undone plans. A senior health official recently told media that health facilities were being crowded because of increased visitors, mainly public servants.
Visiting parents, accompanying mourners or weddings, or going to crowded open-markets in multitude are some of the interactions that have continued as business as usual in the capital, Addis Ababa.
And yet, the situation is not as such different abroad where Ethiopians live under strict regulation and different cultural setting.
A source in a middle-east, contacted by The Ethiopian Herald says, Ethiopians living there “were unfortunately not taking the matter as such seriously. Social distancing has to be practiced in areas where Ethiopians live in large numbers.”
Asked about if there were reports about Ethiopians infected by the virus, the source says “We are having tens, sometimes hundreds of new cases everyday here. The Ministry of Health only goes ahead to announce numbers and location updates, and no other details.”
Although detail of fatalities is shared, until yesterday noon, he personally heard no Ethiopian fatalities, he said.
According to the informant, the country, where he lives has been put under full stage lockdown, (24 hours) since Monday night. Under the regulation, only a single person from each household is allowed to leave in the 6.00 AM-3.00 PM time frame for medicaments or supplies.
Under such strict conditions, that was not strictly applied in our communities, societal gatherings took place indoors,” he said on anonymity.
This indicates how Ethiopians still struggling wherever they go to change their age-old tradition of closeness. The only way out for them to survive the world pandemic at this time, however, is to learn how to detach from one another for the time being.
The Ethiopian Herald April 9/2020
BY STAFF REPORTER
