Covid 19; A Tale of 2 worlds.
The covid 19 outbreak seems to be next major global epidemic since the H5N1 swine flu outbreak of 2009 or worse still a global pandemic since the Spanish flu of 1914-18 that claimed 50 million lives. With more than 95000 people infected and about 3200 dead as per *march 7th, the stakes couldn’t be any higher as it literally affected every aspect of human life. But with the world virtually at a standstill, not only due to the disruptive effects its causing but also the enormous resources being poured into the fight, a divided world is arising.
Covid 19 Emergence; China vs the World
No where could this divide in the social political mind-set of people emerge, than the early days of the outbreak. On the 31st of December 2019, when the Chinese government officially recognised the outbreak, the news of the time was much more minimal about the occurrence. But within the earliest days of the new decade, and with deaths and infections arising, did the western press start to pick up on the story. The Chinese official communication about the virus in terms of statistics, origin, vaccination and research were posted though barely taken seriously by the western press or with treated a high level of mistrust due to the track record of the communist party towards freedom of speech.. Major western news outlets, CNN, BBC Washington post etc., only reported on what makes news sale, the heart pumping headlines of increasing bodies and understaffed hospitals. Though there is truth to this, the number of recovered that were slowly emerging was truly and totally forgotten during the news bulletins . criticisms started pouring in from the western world, mainly about the majors undertaken by the government such as city wide quarantine and lockdown, closure of public places such as schools and cancelation of many events. With more and more countries evacuating citizens out of the country , and xenophobic attacks and racist statements being addressed to the Chinese in some parts of the world such as the Washington’s post article that bore a headline china the real sick man of Asia , surely this was China’s darkest hour.
Around mid-February, with the sudden explosion of cases in South Korea an Iran and Italy, the tables turned. The western media and the protagonists faced the virus at their doorstep. Meanwhile miles away in china, cases reduced day in day out and a piece of normalcy returned. As cases continue to suddenly increase worldwide, a sense to the end of the geopolitics is also rising. The effect of not only the trade tariffs imposed by the trump administration but also the corona virus will surely cause serious economic challenges to the Chinese state, but with the epidemic turning global, a sense of global cohesion seems to be fostered rather than the anti-Chinese rhetoric that was surely on the rise . A footnote to this phenomena would be the tension between America’s greatest allies in the region, Japan and South Korea. The coronavirus epidemic which has claimed more than 500 lives in both countries and is threatening to put a hold on Japan`s would be greatest show in decades, the summer Olympics, has exposed some old tensions. Japan recently declared travel restrictions to South Korean citizens, with a move which angered the establishment at Seoul and adding more salt to the wound caused by tensions destroyed by a series of t. rade disputes and grievances over the Second World War.
The coronavirus and Africa
Virus outbreaks in Africa are not new with Ebola, HIV Zika all having been traced to have origins in Africa. The Ebola outbreak of 2014 -16 was the deadliest of the dreaded virus and efforts of the local and international authorities especially doctors without borders and the Red Cross helped contain it. Credit must be given to the African authorities, who over the past 50 years have improved their healthcare. This is shown by the fact all but one country in sub Saharan Africa still has a case of polio or better still that the fatality rate of malaria and HIV on the continent has dropped by 56% and 34% respectively in the last 24 years. A case point would be Uganda. The East African country of about 40 million has encountered the worst epidemic disasters in the tropics. In The early 2000s, the country grappled with a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus. The numerous government resources poured into the fight and with international assistance I must say, the victory was overcome even when the odds were highly stack against her mainly due to the LRA conflict that was happening in the region at the time.
Back to the corona virus outbreak, the Sars Covid 2 virus has surfaced in about 7 African counties namely Egypt Algeria, Senegal, Togo , Cameron, and South Africa with but all cases being people with a travel history to the worst hit countries. Needless to say, the risk of domestic cases rising is also high. Despite the efforts of the various governments taking measures such self-quarantine of individuals from high risk countries, proper sensitization of the masses about the virus and mobilisation of funds towards the virus, the western media has stated the opposite. The narrative that Africa is a dark continent with insufficient resources and damaged infrastructure may have been true in the early years of post-colonial Africa, but with 6 of the world’s 25 fastest growing economies African and with an ever growing middle class ,this narrative surely must have changed. However during this virus, the question of ``will Africa handle’’ quickly changed to`` what is wrong with Africa ‘’, or ``why not Africa,’’ this feeling can be explained in a tweet by france24, where they stated ``what’s wrong with Africa;’’ or Bloomberg Africa’s tweet that questioned Africa’s healthcare system on a purely uninformed way or worse still CNN that suggested if the virus was being accurately measured in Africa. As all this was going on, no one them accurately highlighted the great news that was coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the last Ebola victim was finally discharged. It was an which outbreak 18 months ago was declared a global health emergency. This misinformation or bias towards a continent of more than 1 billion people should change as it describes the old narrative of the colonial era.
During this corona virus, the world should stay united, as this is truly a global epidemic that cause serious damage not only to the global economy but to every aspect of life. Politics, economic and historical grievances should be put aside to form a strong consolidated fight.
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