5th April, 2020
Today, the world is facing a serious and different challenge that it has never experienced before, a challenge that has not only seriously endangered the lives of millions of people, but has also severely affected the global economy, that way that even to the end of this period, it may take about a decade for the losses to be offset and for the economy and global markets to return to normality. The 21st century has been marked by various economic challenges, such as terrorism, global poverty, greenhouse gases, and dozens of other examples, the deadly Covid19 began to emerge in 2020 as a serious human threat to the extent that the World Health Organization calls it the greatest health crisis of human history. Although the virus broke out in the end of 2019 in Wuhan in China, but its spread began and on January 23, 2020, the city of Wuhan, China, was quarantined before noon and severe restrictions were imposed in the Chinese province of Hubei, it quickly invaded all cities and parts of China. The quick spread of it prompted China’s central government to put the entire state in a serious quarantine, but the quarantine was not enough and the virus was growing faster and was more widespread, forcing the Chinese government to quarantine the nation. China claimed that that quarantine was also the largest quarantine in history and in the next phase, the Covid19 quickly spread beyond the borders of China and became a global virus with no known borders. To date, this virus has been seen in more than 200 countries, with more than one million and two hundred infected and 64,000 deaths.
Regarding the issue of its origin, type of activity and spread of this virus, it needs another detailed discussion. In this article, we have tried more to have a deep look at how countries manage and tackle with this virus. Let’s start with the first victim of the virus; China. Although months after the virus spread, the scientific and medical community has not yet been able to discover the vaccine to treat it, but China has proven that it could be managed regularly and decisively. If the whole of China today, including the Hubei province and the city of Wuhan, is almost back to normal life, the victory of China over the virus has had a huge human cost with almost 3300 people death in this country, but the issue that can be considered is how to manage this fast spreading virus in a short time with decisive commitment? The Chinese government was as strong as it was after the second half of January 2020, when the quarantine period began. It was still in March 2020, the end of the quarantine period, but there was no mention of a shortage of health services, medicine and health supplies, as well as food, anywhere in China, and several hospitals and centers for the diagnosis and treatment of Covid19 were built in a very short time. Implementing a serious quarantine course and its proper management and supervision, proper cohesion and regulation of health teams, as well as their rapid transfer to vulnerable areas, completion and assistance in the field of food in vulnerable areas of the country and good coordination between departments were among other issues that were taken in practical steps immediately, and various governmental and non-governmental sectors were other factors in controlling the virus in China.
China’s approach to dealing with the virus has not only proven that China is governed by a determination, well capability, orderly system that enables it to manage problems, in such emergencies, from decision-making to implementation and oversight as soon as possible. It has a well capable system to play decisively, and with its outstanding assistance to the affected countries, it has once again proved that it is a responsible country in the region and the world level. This country in terms of medicine and health system delivery has also made good progress, and there is no doubt that it will have a better and stronger position in the future of global markets. Japan and South Korea, initially were unable to take immediate and timely action to prevent the spread of the virus. As in Japan, the total cases 34977 among them 84 people have died, 404 people have been treated and the current number of infected is 3009. South Korea has a total of 1,0156 infected people, 177 deaths, 6,325 treated and the current infected is about 3654.The decline in the number of victims and victims in both countries can be said that these two countries are also using effective policies to control the virus, to help the citizens of both countries to return to normal life. But in Europe and the United States, the situation is worse, especially in Italy, Spain, and the United States. The prevalence of Covid19 is not the only problem, but the severe shortage of sanitary stuff is another serious problem in these countries. In many of these countries, a huge number of people are unemployed, and the United States currently has the highest number of infected people and Italy the highest number of victims of the virus. Iran is another major victim of the virus, although it is still under sanctions, but its food and healthcare markets are still not in serious trouble, perhaps due to its extensive experience. Due to the sanctions and the economic crisis that this country has had, it has performed poorly in controlling and preventing the spread of this virus, which can be attributed to late quarantine measures and not being serious and not decisive in its implementation as the main causes of expansion. The virus is too prevalent in the country, as large numbers of citizens are infected with the onset of the New Year holidays. The country’s citizens, traveled without paying attention to health warnings, which caused the virus to circulate more rapidly in the country, and the government is failed to prevent it, and there is another serious doubt that the return of these citizens will further threaten the second wave of the virus.
But in Afghanistan, a country that is still in a state of war and political turmoil and has the least facilities for health care, Covid19 is a more serious problem. At present, more than 330 people are affected with 8 victims and 17 recovered. The number of people infected in Herat and Kabul has risen sharply. Unfortunately, the number of people infected with the virus in Afghanistan has begun to rise, and as the virus spreads faster and more widely, a major catastrophe is predicted. It can be said that the government could have done much better if the transmission of the Covid19 from Iran to Afghanistan was known properly, taking into account that 75% of those infected in Afghanistan had a history of traveling to Iran, but still hundreds of refugees are due to return to Afghanistan every day. Without quarantine or corona testing, they can easily cross this border simply by testing their body temperature. The lack of coordination between different government sectors is also evident, as the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan announced On February 24 this year, the first positive case of coronavirus was tested in Herat and following that state of emergency was declared in the city and on March 22 of this year, the Ministry of Health called for the quarantine of Herat province. On Friday, March 27, in the city of Kabul all offices were closed for three weeks and curfew was announced. On 3rd April Afghan Ministry of Public health warned of human catastrophe due to fast spread of Corona Virus.
That the government immediately quarantined numerous cities, that due to this, curfew is currently in place in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces.
Not paying attention to quarantine measures and lack of hygiene by the people, and even in some parts of the country lack of facilities to provide health services and shortage of corona diagnostic laboratories, which currently there are only 4 laboratories, the possibility of lack of food and basic needs and also excessive prices in the country’s markets and the growing unemployment of a large number of citizens, especially the daily wage workers in the society, is another worrying issue facing Afghanistan. And the fact that about 52 percent of Afghans live below the poverty line
, and the three-week quarantine situation, which is likely to be extended, will be another crisis for the group of people based on daily wages, if they are not provided with the basic necessities of life. Although the World Bank has pledged $ 1.4 million in cooperation with the Afghan government to tackle this problem. Also, some financial assistance and medical supplies were committed by the United States and the United Arab Emirates to Afghanistan, but how to manage them is another matter which requires greater coordination between politicians and relevant governmental sectors.
In general, just as Covid19 is a global threat, the world needs unity and cooperation of countries and nations more than ever before, and without coordination and cooperation in the fight against Covid19, eradicating and defeating this virus is impossible and I believe that the world after Corona will be different from the world before it, and humanity will want more and need a cleaner living environment and better health services, and it is hoped that this challenge will be an opportunity and an incentive to take required actions in this regard. Also, to fight this virus as a whole humanity threat, it requires strong fight to reduce greenhouse gases and pay more attention to a greener world.
