MARTHA MAMOMBE
With over 3.1m confirmed coronavirus cases, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to its knees.
Neither scientists, financial analysts and nor religious leaders could have seen this coming. Just how did the Covid-19 virus spiral come out of control? Who is to blame, is there even anyone to blame?
Its impact on global markets has already been felt and will likely still be felt for months to come.
World leaders including US President Donald Trump have called it “The invisible enemy” with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson referring to it as “The biggest fight since the war” during his first public address outside Downing Street since recovering from the virus himself.
It begs the question how will the coronavirus change life as we knew it before?
Can life ever return to normal and if so, what will the new normal be? That is a question I asked the United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe; Brian A Nichols.
His response, “Until we have a better handle on the coronavirus, I think that travel will be very limited, only for essential purposes and it will involve some use of voluntary or mandatory quarantine.
Social distancing will continue to be important. It will be difficult to pack planes with all the passengers that could fit in normal times and I think the global economy is vastly reduced because of Covid-19.”
Although the African continent is at risk of the highest mortality rate should an aggressive wave hit the continent, cases have remained relatively low compared to other continents.
Poor health care systems, incapacitation and lack of modern equipment are some of the problems facing nearly all African countries and Zimbabwe is by no means any exception.
Many have wondered how Zimbabwe would curb the spread of the deadly virus with no running water to wash hands with.
The Covid-19 pandemic has however triggered a rapid response mentality from government to corporates, to the international community and private citizens alike.
In the last few weeks the United States government has availed more than US$3m to help Zimbabwe’s response to the coronavirus.
It’s no secret that the country’s water situation has been dire for more than a decade.
Local authorities across the country have struggled with service delivery with emphasis on water and sanitation provision. “We are working in a number of areas, laboratory testing, strengthening and preparedness, training for laboratory officials making sure they have the things they need.
One of the advantages of our major investments on HIV/ AIDS is that we have some of the machines that can analyse viruses in people’s blood already.
So, the decentralisation of laboratory testing [for coronavirus] is something that’s being intensively supported.
The other areas are communication strategies and we are also creating hand washing stations and providing hand sanitisers,” Ambassador Nichols said, during a virtual video interview.
While the country has benefitted from generous donations in cash or kind, the World Health Organisation’s financial fate is in limbo after the United States withdrew funding pending an investigation into the WHO’s initial response and handling of the virus when it first broke out in China.
Ambassador Nichols said “When you look at the WHO response there had been serious problems with their response from the beginning and I think President Trump was fully justified to demand better performance and investigation for 60 to 90 days to figure out exactly what happened at the beginning.
Let’s keep in mind the United States has been the largest donor to WHO for its entire history and what we are talking about is future funding for WHO.”
The Ambassador’s comments came days before US president Donald Trump revealed that China would be answerable for its part in the spread of the disease insisting the virus could have been stopped from spreading to 184 countries had it been decisively dealt with at the source.
“The whole world is suffering. This is worldwide damage” President Trump said during his daily press briefing on coronavirus.
Meanwhile Germany sent a bill of US$130bn to China for damages caused by the coronavirus.
France president Emmanuel Macron expressed similar sentiments earlier in the month, highlighting the serious lack of transparency from Chinese authorities, thereby costing hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide as the global economy takes a heavy blow. With so much uncertainty enveloping not just Zimbabwe, but the world at large people have turned to religion for existential and spiritual answers to questions posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Hope for a better future lies in the hands of science through the development of a vaccine and effective treatment but until then there is inevitable anxiety and fear in most people. Ambassador Nichols offered a message of hope to Zimbabweans saying “It’s a global challenge but we are going to get through this.
The American people will stand with the people of Zimbabwe always.” So even after Zimbabwe’s lockdown comes to an end there is need for people to make a conscious decision to avoid crowds for their own good.
Musical concerts, packed church auditoriums and sports stadiums could be a thing of the past for the foreseeable future until the coast is clear- as part of concerted effort to stop the spread of the virus.
