“Pick-up the phone in Ethiopia these days and you are greeted not by a ringtone but with a jingle urging the benefits of handwashing, social distancing and face masks. Churches and mosques are closed, with services conducted electronically. According to officials, community health workers have screened an astonishing 40 million people in 11 million households, verifying their travel history and conducting routine temperature checks.”
This is an excerpt from an article written by a ‘Financial Times’ (FT) opinion writer David pilling, on May 27, 2020, under the title ‘No lockdown, few ventilators but Ethiopia is beating COVID-19’. True, a significant change has taken place in the country since the day of his report. The number of positive cases at the end of May was only 731. Now, the number has already tripled; showing a sharp rise just in the last couple of weeks. This could be either due to the consequence of ramped-up testing or a sign of community transmission. Be it as it may, as the second most populous nation in Africa where the economy is just striving to evolve, the successes so far achieved to beat COVID-19 in the country outweigh far the calamities.
Acknowledging the effort of the FT writer for his candid reporting, however, there are other important matters he could have stressed to reinforce his assertions. From the onset, prevention was the strategy adopted by Ethiopia, as a poor economy that can hardly survive on lockdown. The government has proved to be people’s champion to this day; ever since the first COVID-19 positive case was identified some three months ago. The preparation of quarantine centers for 57,000 people and 15,000 beds readied proactively was a flagship measure undertaken by the vibrant leadership of the government. On top of that, the government did also launch a covid 19 hospital in the capital within a period of three weeks; which reaffirmed its earnest determination to control the impact of the pandemic as soon as possible.
The government proved to be the peoples’ champion bypassing a pre-emptive decision to safeguarding the welfare of citizens prior to other economic and political matters. This was frustrating to some political parties (and was also a real offence to the majority of the public), who remained persistent to conduct the national election amid the pandemic.
In principle, the most important mitigating strategy for contagious viral pandemics is to stay away by making use of basic precautionary measures-wearing masks, washing hands time and again and maintaining social distance. That was what the government has been doing through intensive and rigorous awareness creation activities.
Anyone who is pronounced positive for COVID-19 after undergoing medical testing will be immediately isolated in medical centers; where he will be carefully supervised and treated; even before his health condition shows no sign of deterioration. This kind of solemn treatment is peculiar to Ethiopia and a few other nations in the world. Even in the west, positive patients are made to be quarantined at home and diagnosis starts only when the patient reaches critical conditions. Though costly this could be to a poor nation like Ethiopia, it has contributed a great deal to the significant number of recoveries from COVID-19 on a daily basis.
Parallel to this, the government has been trying to ensure the economic welfare of the society by keeping small scale businesses as usual so that they continue to survive. Survival is in fact a vital issue to nations like Ethiopia during the occurrence of such global pandemic. This is mainly because it leads to an imminent economic crisis during and in the aftermath. Spearheading to Ethiopian context, the country has a huge number of population. Second, agricultural productivity is not compatible enough to secure food for the whole population. Cognizant to this, the government has passed various measures preventing job losses as well as ensuring the survival of firms that is highly critical to the economy. At the same time, it started to encourage production and other economic activities without being interrupted during the course of the crisis, thus considerably easing the pressure on vulnerable social groups and the informal sector.
Moreover, public awareness and education have been central to the government’s effort. The premier personally makes regular public announcements regarding COVID-19, while the health minister provides daily briefings. Bidding to disseminate media information to all citizens, Ethiotelecom uses cell-phone ring tones to remind people of the importance of hygiene measures.
This being the actual scenario, the society’s response towards the national protection endeavours was rather good in the beginning since the first case of identified locally with the exception of maintaining social distancing. Through time, some improvements were seen in keeping distances like during queuing for taxies and other public transports. The government also passed a regulation to curtail the number of passengers a taxi or any vehicle should carry in a way that can ensure the existence of adequate spaces among them.
In the last few weeks, however, a significant number of residents in the capital are seen in the streets moving recklessly without putting on masks and paying no attention to keeping distances. Even if everyone is legally obliged to wear face masks outdoor, some are seen walking in the street without it. Instead, they prefer to keep it in their pocket unless a law enforcement body is not around to warn them. The fear towards the pandemic seems to leave many; contrary to the increasing number of positive cases reported every day. As a result, this recklessness has become menacing to the national mitigating endeavour. The sharp increase in the number of positive cases being testified recently could also be due to this irresponsible behaviour.
In the first place, wearing masks alone could not guarantee safety from contracting the virus. According to a recent report of the World Health Organization, the kind of mask people should wear in public need to have three layers. Three-layer masks are believed to protect the virus from inhaling; even if one fails to maintain physical distance with an infected person. Many of the masks people from the streets, in this regard, could hardly filter the virus from entering into our respiratory system. However, having one of a kind is better than going out with any. The crux of the matter is, only the cumulative effect of all mitigating measures can enhance our state of safety from contracting COVID-19. Wearing a mask alone may not help. Maintaining physical distance may not be attained all the time. Besides, washing hands now and then and keeping hands clean with alcohol or sanitizer during movements is very important all the time. Staying at home by minimizing unnecessary movements is also vital. Sadly, such kinds of blunders are being witnessed among the public lately. We all need to keep strong and safe together until these days of temptations are over by the grace of God.
(Let‘s be more responsible to the people protecting ourselves from contracting COVID-19)
The Ethiopian herald June 11,2020
BY ENDALE ASSEFA
