THE death toll from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has now reached alarming proportions forcing the World Health Orgnasation (WHO) to escalate the of the flue like bug to “Very High” a move that could soon see WHO declaring the disease as a pandemic.
By Michael Gwarisa
The WHO said it was too early to call the outbreak a pandemic but countries should be “in a phase of preparedness.” A pandemic is when an infectious disease spreads easily from person to person in many parts of the world. To date, the Covic-19 is still highly concentrated in China, Wuhan where it originated but cases of infections outside mainland China are also spreading fast like a wildfire.
According to the National Health Commission (NHC), by Saturday, February 29, at least 47 new deaths had been recorded, bringing to 2,835 the number of fatalities nationwide among 79,251 confirmed cases.
Zimbabwe on the other hand says it has put in place mechanisms to detect, trace and monitor suspected cases as well as those who would have come into the country from the COVID-19 afflicted areas.
As part of its COVID-19 management mechanism, the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) has self-quarantined more than 3 375 people who have passed through Zimbabwe’s ports of entry since the coronavirus was reported in China.
First of all it’s critical to define what self-quarantine is. Self-quarantines or self-isolation is a sort of voluntary quarantine, where people have to make their own arrangements. The people make deliberate efforts to minimise or restrict their own movements until a certain given time. For example in the case of the Covid-19 which has an incubation period of more than 14 days, at least one is required to be in self-isolation until such a time they feel their presence wont expose others to the risk of contracting a disease.
Asking people to self-quarantine themselves could be noble but it isn’t sufficient because not everyone can comply with recommendations like social distancing, such as not going to school or work and avoiding places where others congregate. For Zimbabwe, self-isolation or quarantine will not work for various reasons.
REASON 1: Highly Informalised Economy:
The rate of Zimbabwe’s unemployment is very difficult to pin down but varying statistics from various sources indicate that majority of people in Zimbabwe have ventured into the non-formal sector to earn a living. Majority of the people who travel between Zimbabwe and China are in the buying and selling business which requires them to be on the ground selling goods 24/7. This group of people won’t follow government set self-quarantine rules. Following such recommendations is almost impossible for day labourers who don’t get paid if they don’t go to work; for people with low-wage jobs; people who don’t have paid sick leave; and others. For many Zimbabweans who are into the buying and selling business, a few days of lost income can mean not being able to pay the rent, buy food, or afford medications. They may feel compelled to go to work even if they aren’t feeling well, because they need the money
REASON 2: Poorly Resourced Government
Human beings have basic daily needs regardless of disease or condition. Even during times of an outbreak like Coronavirus, people still need food, water, medicine and access to communication with the outside world. Making people who would have come through from Coronavirus hit countries stay home is very possible but keeping them there is almost impossible. Somehow, government or somebody needs to provide for these basic needs for the self-quarantined individuals. This means in Zimbabwe, government has to feed and provide for these not less than 3000 individuals who are on self-quarantine. If we can give people the resources they need to stay home during a disease outbreak and avoid workplaces, schools, and other places where people gather, there would be fewer opportunities for people to fear that they could contract the virus.
Our government is not in the habit of bailing out such initiatives. As we speak, all these so called self-quarantined individuals are already roaming the streets willy-nilly and trust me, it’s not their fault, they have bills to pay and needs to be met.
REASON 3: No tracking Mechanism For Self Quarantined Individuals
Announcing and advising people to self-quarantine themselves is not enough. Government needs to follow-up on the individuals to ensure indeed they are sticking to the voluntary isolation requirements. In Britain and other developed countries where self-isolation has been adopted as a means of minimising human to human infection and spread of the disease, police are manning check points to the cities to ensure people stick to self-isolation rules for at least 14 days.
Well that’s not the case in Zimbabwe, almost everyone who returned from China since the Coronavirus was reported is freely moving around the streets. There is not mechanism to track these people to see if they are being compliant.
Conclusion:
Self quarantine or isolation will not work in Zimbabwe. As brutal and draconian as it may sound, the only way to control this disease in Zimbabwe is by activating institutional quarantine. At least government could identify a building and turn it into an isolation facility where people will be monitored by skilled and trained health personal. Self-quarantine is cheaper than institutional quarantine that is a fact but it needs government commitment to ensure it reaps the expected results, otherwise the only way effective way forward is institutional isolation.
