eBusiness Weekly
Misheck Ugaro
As stated by the World Health Organisation (WHO), coronaviruses belongs to a family of viruses that can cause mild disease such as a common cold, but also severe respiratory disease such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). The novel coronavirus epidemic coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is caused by a coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2).
The epidemic started or was discovered in late December 2019 in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, and has since spread to more than 87 countries and territories in the world and keeps rising.
The poor regions of the world haven’t been spared, although impact is still limited and the need for a context-specific response has become urgent. The death toll worldwide has been rising.
Globally the death toll has been rising and while on the African continent it is still lagging behind, the risk of a full blown out break is huge and numbers will soon rise dramatically.
A further analysis of the spread of the disease on the African continent shows that this is by no means a risk that can be looked at casually and the continent faces perhaps the greatest threat of all time.
The implication for Zimbabwe is apparent. The risk is more pronounced in large and densely populated areas with widespread poverty and high migration that are more vulnerable to airborne pandemics. According to the World Heart Federation (WHF), a global organisation representing the cardiovascular community, as of March 5, 2020, there were 22 cases in 7 African countries: Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal.
“A significant part of the population in the continent is already extremely vulnerable”, according to Professor Karen Sliwa, WHF President.
This is especially risky because of already reduced immunity levels of large sections of the population due to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria that are prevalent on the continent. The rapidly spreading Covid-19 can thus lead to an even greater number of deaths and suffering on the African continent than Europe and Asia.
In addition, according to Professor Siwa, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and specifically chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), heart disease, hypertension and diabetes are major risk factors for developing severe symptoms of Covid-19.
If Covid-19 spreads extensively in low-income countries, containment may not be realistic and response efforts will likely need to transition to various aggressive mitigation strategies, which could include isolating ill people at home and closing schools, universities, places of religious worship and public events.
Many of these have already been implemented by the various countries’ authorities. What does this all mean for Zimbabwe and what mitigation measures are necessary for the nation? The Government has already implemented a raft of measures aimed at minimising the risk of spread of the disease.
However, the existence of a greater risk requiring extra ordinary measures still exists. For once, the country faces the ultimate national security risk and strategic decisions must be escalated to this level of priority. This is a rallying call for the whole nation and requires a robust response.
Our view is that time has arrived for the nation’s defence forces to be called into action. It is not to fight the enemy with guns but instead with their regimented and well-coordinated military precision. The virus will likely spread faster during the forthcoming winter season and the authorities are being advised to let the defence forces lead the fight against this common enemy.
There is need for a shut-down of the whole country with people movement only limited to the necessary. This calls, however, for a well co-ordinated logistics plan because there will be need for provisions such as food, medicines and emergencies requiring admissions into hospitals and even funerals and burials.
This can only be well co-ordinated by the defence forces if people are to remain in their houses.
If Covid-19 spreads extensively in low-income countries, containment may not be realistic and response efforts will likely need to transition to various aggressive mitigation strategies, which could include isolating ill people at home and closing schools, universities, places of religious worship and public events.
Many of these have already been implemented by the various countries’ authorities. What does this all mean for Zimbabwe and what mitigation measures are necessary for the nation? The government has already implemented a raft of measures aimed at minimising the risk of spread of the disease. However, the existence of a greater risk requiring extra ordinary measures still exists.
For once, the country faces the ultimate national security risk and strategic decisions must be escalated to this level of priority. This is a rallying call for the whole nation and requires a robust response. Our view is that time has arrived for the nation’s defence forces to be called into action. It is not to fight the enemy with guns but instead with their regimented and well-coordinated military precision.
The virus will likely spread faster during the forthcoming winter season and the authorities are being advised to let the defence forces lead the fight against this common enemy. There is need for a shut-down of the whole country with people movement only limited to the necessary. This calls however for a well-coordinated logistics plan because there will be need for provisions such as food, medicines and emergencies requiring admissions into hospitals and even funerals and burials. This can only be well coordinated by the defence forces if people are to remain in their houses.
l Close down all clubbing and night life spots and pubs.
l Mobilise the defence forces to set up food and provisions distribution, health check points and call centres at designated points
l Mobilise volunteer corps to work under the defence forces command to help with the reach of all corners of the country.
l Due to our cultural heritage which necessitates large gatherings at such sombre occasions as funerals, insist on limiting funerals attendances to a maximum number say 20 for burial purposes and to be done under direct supervision.
It is a sad fact that most businesses are not prepared for their offices to be compelled to be shut down or to have half of their workforce unable to show up on any given day. Moreso, the Zimbabwean economy is now largely informal making it extra difficult to make people stay in their homes away from their sources of daily livelihoods.
Both of these challenges have become more real in the face of the pandemic. However, the nations should find it reasonable to take these steps as remedies that can be employed quickly in the face of the impending disaster.
Misheck Ugaro is a former expatriate banker based in several SADC countries and currently works as a Corporate Advisory Services Consultant. He is the founder of Rucabel Investments Private Limited, an investment company based in Zimbabwe. He is a member and past Vice President of the Zimbabwe Economics Society. He can be contacted on (263) 777052004/712808140; [email protected]; Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/misheckugaro; Twitter: @twitcagan.com
