Imtiaz Gul
Chief Editor, MatrixMag
In Japan with a population of 127 million people the first case of coronavirus appeared 2 WEEKS EARLIER than in Italy. Today (March 21), in Japan we have about 1007 cases with 35 deaths. China declared COVID19 emergency on Dec 13, imposed a new social contract on over a billion people and has sofar restricted fatalities to 3255 – compared to Italy’s – an amazingly incredible performance in a country of 1.3 billion.
Italy, with a population of 60 million, on the other hand, has recorded over 47,021 infection cases (as of March 21) and lost at least 4032 to the virus. The Chinese have even shut down all 16 temporary Corona response hospitals.
In Japan, the society is older, and therefore more likely to die from a virus. But this ageing society has done a splendid job in containing the contagion to the minimum.
Like mature, caring and law-abiding citizens, almost every body demonstrated unusual compliance with the regulations and hence expressed solidarity with their respective governments.
The media, instead of playing as a sensational nit-picker, supplemented the government awareness campaigns. How did the Chinese and the Japanese stem the deadly COVID19 tide? How did Japan manage to keep the images minimum even though it was there earlier than in Italy?
Here is how they contained the monster, creating enforcing a SOCIAL DISTANCING regime
1: Total lockdown i.e. closed down schools, barred external traveling
2: Literally banned bars/restaurants/gyms
3: Minimized personnel presence to one-third at a time in offices/factories
4: Cancelled all sporting / cultural events
5: Issued regulations for social distancing
6: Minimized outings for every single citizen unless absolutely necessary
7: Launched massive awareness campaigns on extreme hygiene
8: Switched off central air-conditioning
9: Enforced masks for all outgoing persons
What went wrong in Italy?
After detecting three cases, including two Chinese tourists at the end of January, patients were isolated in a hospital in Rome. Contacts were traced, and the country became one of the world’s first to cut transport links with China, according to The Guardian (March 10).
The sense of confidence was palpable. “The system of prevention put into place by Italy is the most rigorous in Europe ,” the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, boasted on 31 January, reported the paper, adding that “in reality, …… the virus had been circulating unnoticed in northern Italy via other local chains of infection, in all probability since mid-January.
Reality was different; protocols for testing were missing. Nobody thought of COVID19. And the first infected person was tested with a 36 hour delay on 18 February. Italian governments – federal and provincial – lacked coordination. They were initially divided over lockdown, a response precipitated by mixed political messaging that eventually stymied decision-making and coordinated execution.
A politically divided Italy is paying the price.
Will a politically fragmented Pakistan suffer the same fate if it continued to stay divided and dithered on an imperatively unavoidable lock down?
