Is the Government losing the plot?

Why restart economic activities so soon after the new outbreak of infection when new cases of infection continue to be detected every day?

By Mrinal Roy

The country is currently in the throes of a new surge of Covid-19 infection since 5 March amid patent evidence that the virus has spread through the movement of infected persons from the initial clusters of infection to far-flung localities across the country such as Dagotiere, Canot, Dubrueil, Souillac, Chamouny, Chamarel and Highlands etc..

Despite the small size of the country of 1,864 km², the government, presumably emulating policies introduced in large countries like France, Germany or Australia where whole states, districts and provinces have been declared red zones, has ring fenced the hotspots of infection in the country from the rest of the country and fastidiously classified them as red zones. This demands a cumbersome micro-management of zones and villages scattered over the country.

Against such a backdrop and despite the fact that contact tracing exercises continue to track down new cases of Covid-19 infection and evidence that the chain of infection is yet to be contained and broken, government has disconcertingly decided, that barring areas declared red zones, to allow a wide range of economic sectors to restart their activities in the rest of the country.

Risky gamble

This controversial decision begs so many legitimate questions. Why restart economic activities so soon after the new outbreak of infection when new cases of infection continue to be detected every day amid galling evidence that some people are still not wearing masks nor abiding by sanitary and social distancing rules in place?  What is the rationale of such a hasty decision? What is the reason for such a risky gamble? Has government caved in to pressures from the private sector? Are the authorities losing the plot?

Would it not instead have been more prudent and judicious in the context of the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the country to maintain a full lockdown with strict confinement, sanitary and social distancing rules till the end of April to enable the country to first contain and break the chain of Covid-19 infection in the country before restarting the economy? In a small country like Mauritius, shouldn’t the priority be to first make the country Covid safe again? What if the infection rate rises instead of petering out?

More than 471,000 Work Access Permits (WAP) including presumably self-employed persons compared to some 469,000 employees in the country, have thus been issued by government in the first week of the opening up of the economy. Additional WAP applications continue to be processed. The WAP permits enable the permit holder to travel from his home to his place of work. It is therefore vital that all WAP holders strictly abide by sanitary and social distancing rules and wear their masks as the virus is still very much present in the country.

The history of the world’s battle against the Covid-19 pandemic over the past year is littered with evidence from a plethora of countries across the world such as France, the US, the UK, Italy, Spain, Germany or Brazil that hasty decisions to restart economic activities too soon have backfired. Rushing into rebooting economic activities when the spread of the virus is not robustly contained has invariably triggered a second and third wave of infection, a rising death toll, overwhelmed health services and forced countries to impose new lockdowns and strict confinement rules.

Grim statistics

After more than a year of battling against the pandemic, the statistics are still grim as fuelled by new strains of the virus, the new waves of Coronavirus infection seem more potent.

Coronavirus infection figures released by health authorities across South America this week show a number of countries grappling with a spike in infections and deaths.  Uruguay and Paraguay registered record numbers of daily deaths. Brazil with more than 13 million Covid-19 cases is the second most affected country in the world after the United States. Its daily Covid–19 death toll has soared past 3000 for the first time this week.

In January, the U.S. recorded more than 4000 deaths in one day for the first time.  In France, the number of Covid-19 patients in the country’s intensive care units might soon attain the peak reached last year. Britain with almost 127,000 coronavirus deaths has the highest death toll in Europe. Poland is struggling to cope with a record number of new infections. Hungary now has one of the highest Covid mortality rates in the world.  The second wave of coronavirus infection in Ukraine is deadlier than the first with some 400 deaths registered every day.

These statistics show that despite all the world’s efforts to fight the pandemic, the situation remains daunting. This is therefore not the time to drop our guard or be complacent.Covid-19 vaccines represent a game changer in this indecisive battle. The onus is thus squarely on the world countries to act collectively and take every action necessary to boost Covid-19 vaccine production and assure that all countries have access to vaccines in a timely manner so that they can all speedily vaccinate their population to attain herd immunity as quickly as possible. The world needs to act as one. It needs to act now.

Important lessons

Many important lessons have been learnt from the grueling battle of countries across the world against the Covid-19 pandemic over more than a year. This is an unprecedented crisis which has brought the world on its knees. We therefore need to remain mobilized and take every precaution necessary to protect ourselves against the risk of infection while the Covid-19 vaccine rollout reaches the level required for herd immunity as it will take time to overcome the pandemic. Covid-19 threatens the gregariousness, conviviality, existential values and the very essence of our lives. The world therefore needs to unite and adopt a concerted strategy to fight and win the biggest and most difficult battle faced by humanity.

Saving the lives of people must take priority over saving the economy. The world must therefore take all actions and measures necessary to protect ourselves against the risk of infection and robustly contain and halt the spread of the virus. In parallel every country must obtain its vaccine requirements and accelerate its Covid-19 vaccination drive.

It is a shame that despite the fact that 35 dialysis patients have been infected by Covid-19, only 60% of the 13,000 medical staff manning the various health services in the country have so far opted to be vaccinated. It is expected that an international Covid-19 vaccination certificate will be a mandatory document for international travel once borders and travel are opened when the vaccination drive attains the objective of herd immunity. Vaccination will also be an essential requirement for the hotel, airport and port staff as well as operators of the tourism sector and hospitality industry. By the same token, it is essential that all hospital staff be urgently vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to safely assume their professional duties and protect themselves, their patients and their families.

Unity of purpose

The battle against Covid-19 will be a long drawn one. Solidarity and unity of purpose should be the driving leitmotiv of all mankind at this momentous juncture. This is not therefore the time for rash initiatives but concerted strategy by the caucus of nations to efficiently and swiftly vaccinate one and all while taking every precaution necessary to protect ourselves against every risk of coronavirus infection.

* Published in print edition on 9 April 2021