COVID-19 MAY GO EITHER WAY IN AFRICA
We are keeping our fingers, toes and eyes crossed that Covid-19 will spare this continent
THURSDAY, April 30, was almost like any other morning in Dakar, Senegal.
The colourful mini-buses (Car
Rapide), which is part and parcel of Dakar traffic, were out in full force; along the corniche — the road next to the ocean — joggers and fitness enthusiasts were enjoying the morning breeze as they went about their daily routine; and shops were just beginning to open their shutters for the day.
It was almost like any other morning. Almost.
Except that the Car Rapide, which was normally filled to the brim with passengers, was now only allowed to carry no more than 10 persons; everyone out on the street, in the buses, and in private vehicles were all wearing face masks, even the joggers, and nearly every single intersection had policemen with masks flagging down those vehicles with either too many passengers, or where passengers and the driver alike were not wearing masks.
It has been five weeks now since President Macky Sall declared a state of emergency in this West African nation.
The measures include the total lockdown of the country’s airport, a complete curfew from 8pm to 6am, restaurants and eateries to only deliver or offer pick-up service, no more than three persons are allowed in a car and no more than 10 per Car
Rapide, widespread use of hand sanitisers in public places, use of masks and no regional travel.
The first Covid-19 case in Senegal was detected on March 2, involving an individual from Italy.
At that time, only three other African countries had confirmed cases — Egypt (from Feb 14), Algeria (on Feb 25) and Nigeria (on Feb 27). With the exception of Egypt, whose first case was an individual from China, the first cases in the other African countries were individuals from Italy.
On March 11, Covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic, and Africa-centric observers were quick to point out that the continent would be the hardest-hit region once it arrived in full force. This was understandable — if Western countries with their superior healthcare were literally counting their death tolls, what hope would there be for Africa?
With such gloom and doom predictions, African countries started instituting a lockdown.
Rwanda was the first to declare a “lockdown” on March 21 by closing its borders and suspending international flights.
Senegal followed suit two days later. Its number of confirmed cases at the time was 79 with no deaths.
By the end of last month, 44 countries in Africa had registered Covid-19 cases, with more than 34,000 cumulative cases and 1,517 deaths reported. This was after more than five weeks of battling the spread of the disease.
For a continent with a population of 1.3 billion (as opposed to Europe’s 738 million), the fact that Covid-19 has not decimated the population is something in which to rejoice. The future of the African economy is, of course, another matter altogether.
When Senegal imposed its state of emergency, many remarked that Sall was being paranoid.
But subsequent events have validated his overly cautious approach. By closing the borders, the number of imported cases has been eliminated.
Social distancing, even though difficult, is practiced as far as possible, with mosques in this predominantly Muslim country closed. Senegal is blessed to have selenium-rich soil, the antixodant that is said to boost the immune system. The ban on regional travel has further kept the increase in cases to a minimum.
Senegal cannot institute a full lockdown because many of its city-dwellers live a hand-tomouth existence.
But testing is widespread and with less than 10 per cent of new cases from those tests per day, this allows the health services to more than cope. If things hold as they are, Senegal has a more than good chance of beating Europe and America’s trend.
Up to last month, Africa (with the exception Algeria, Egypt and Morocco) can go either way.
Covid-19 might yet ravage the continent, or it may just pass it by with very low mortality rates.
For us here, we are keeping our fingers, toes and yes, eyes crossed that this new virus will spare this continent that has battled so many other problems.