South Asia will be hit hard by coronavirus and the states' response needs to improve.
A recent IPI (Islamabad Policy Institute) report reviews the COVID-19 pandemic impact on South Asian countries, how varying has been the spread of virus, its containment and relief measures by the governments across the region. Majority of the cases have been imported in these countries which are struggling harder due to inadequate health capabilities.
Coronavirus crisis is also being manipulated as a means to restrict reporting and criticism of the governments regarding their response/relief measures. While Modi endorsed media censorship on reporting corona news, Bangladesh has already enacted a draconian law.
Following is the comprehensive review of the pandemic in South Asia:
The landlocked Himalayan country with a population of 30 million, Nepal reported its first coronavirus case on Jan 24, 2020. The government reacted proactively and restricted entry of all foreigners into the country to prevent the spread.
The other four cases surfaced during the last week of March. As the total number of confirmed cases has spiked up to 16 from 12 on April 12, Nepalese government extended lockdown till April 27, up from April 15. There are apprehensions that closure of borders and halt in tourists and trade with neighboring countries for over a month now could worsen serious economic woes and capacity to deal with crisis.
Bangladesh
Similar to other South Asian neighbours, the capacity to handle spiraling number of patients suffering from the infectious disease is limited in Bangladesh. “According to Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), 1,220 suspected cases had been tested till March 31, 2020 out of which 51 tested positive.
Unlike its neighbours, Bangladesh government launched a crackdown against the critics of its handling of Covid-19 epidemic under its stringent Digital Security Act.
An imported disease in Maldives
Maldives has been particularly vulnerable to the disease because of the high number of tourists visiting the country, which received 1.7 million tourists in 2019. Tourists from China were the largest by country of origin, accounting for nearly 20% of arrivals, followed by India and Italy. Maldives’ first Covid-19 cases emerged on March 7, 2020 when two migrant workers contracted the infection from an Italian tourist. By March 31, it had 19 confirmed cases of the disease.
Coronavirus adds to misery of war ravaged Afghanistan
There had been four deaths due to Corona Virus in Afghanistan (out of 145 confirmed cases by March 21). The first person to die from Corona had no international travel history, which implies that local transmission had started in the country in contrast to other countries. Afghanistan, after decades of strife, has a barely functioning health system. Moreover, it suffers from an acute shortage of medicines and hospital supplies, including personal protective equipment, for handling the Coronavirus patients. "International organizations helped the government in setting up a 100 bed national isolation centre and subnational isolation centres with a total capacity of 991 beds", added the IPI report.
The corona nexus: Iran-Afghanistan and Pakistan
The outbreak of Coronavirus in Iran led to return of large number of refugees. It is estimated that nearly 9,000 Afghans are returning from Iran every day and according to International Organization of Migration’s figures, 115,410 undocumented Afghans returned from Iran from March 8 – 21, which was a record number of returnees for a fortnight.
In Pakistan, the virus was carried by pilgrims from Iran and initially they were stranded in the desert area of Taftan border. The screening process was too slow to conduct tests and government seemed unprepared. However, about half of the cases out of the total 5,038 reported, has been the result of local transmission, confirmed the SAMP Dr Zafar Mirza on April 12 briefing.
No wonder, Pakistan PM Imran Khan stated that developing countries are in dire need of international support and relieving of debts could be a promising start. This message has been endorsed by some other leaders as well.
The coronavirus poses an existential threat to lives, social structures and economies of South Asian countries and calls for coordinated measures, most importantly taking care of the poor sections especially the daily wagers’ woes. But this challenge should not be used as an excuse of imposing sanctions on freedom of expression.
A recent IPI (Islamabad Policy Institute) report reviews the COVID-19 pandemic impact on South Asian countries, how varying has been the spread of virus, its containment and relief measures by the governments across the region. Majority of the cases have been imported in these countries which are struggling harder due to inadequate health capabilities.
Coronavirus crisis is also being manipulated as a means to restrict reporting and criticism of the governments regarding their response/relief measures. While Modi endorsed media censorship on reporting corona news, Bangladesh has already enacted a draconian law.
Following is the comprehensive review of the pandemic in South Asia:
Bhutan
The landlocked Himalayan country with a population of 30 million, Nepal reported its first coronavirus case on Jan 24, 2020. The government reacted proactively and restricted entry of all foreigners into the country to prevent the spread.
The other four cases surfaced during the last week of March. As the total number of confirmed cases has spiked up to 16 from 12 on April 12, Nepalese government extended lockdown till April 27, up from April 15. There are apprehensions that closure of borders and halt in tourists and trade with neighboring countries for over a month now could worsen serious economic woes and capacity to deal with crisis.
Bangladesh
Similar to other South Asian neighbours, the capacity to handle spiraling number of patients suffering from the infectious disease is limited in Bangladesh. “According to Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), 1,220 suspected cases had been tested till March 31, 2020 out of which 51 tested positive.
A team of public health researchers from BRAC, North South, and Johns Hopkins universities have, in a study titled, ‘Covid-19: Cases, hospitalization need, critical care need and mortality projections for Bangladesh’ estimated that as many as 507,442 people may die because of this outbreak, stated the IPI report.
Unlike its neighbours, Bangladesh government launched a crackdown against the critics of its handling of Covid-19 epidemic under its stringent Digital Security Act.
An imported disease in Maldives
Maldives has been particularly vulnerable to the disease because of the high number of tourists visiting the country, which received 1.7 million tourists in 2019. Tourists from China were the largest by country of origin, accounting for nearly 20% of arrivals, followed by India and Italy. Maldives’ first Covid-19 cases emerged on March 7, 2020 when two migrant workers contracted the infection from an Italian tourist. By March 31, it had 19 confirmed cases of the disease.
Coronavirus adds to misery of war ravaged Afghanistan
There had been four deaths due to Corona Virus in Afghanistan (out of 145 confirmed cases by March 21). The first person to die from Corona had no international travel history, which implies that local transmission had started in the country in contrast to other countries. Afghanistan, after decades of strife, has a barely functioning health system. Moreover, it suffers from an acute shortage of medicines and hospital supplies, including personal protective equipment, for handling the Coronavirus patients. "International organizations helped the government in setting up a 100 bed national isolation centre and subnational isolation centres with a total capacity of 991 beds", added the IPI report.
The corona nexus: Iran-Afghanistan and Pakistan
The outbreak of Coronavirus in Iran led to return of large number of refugees. It is estimated that nearly 9,000 Afghans are returning from Iran every day and according to International Organization of Migration’s figures, 115,410 undocumented Afghans returned from Iran from March 8 – 21, which was a record number of returnees for a fortnight.
In Pakistan, the virus was carried by pilgrims from Iran and initially they were stranded in the desert area of Taftan border. The screening process was too slow to conduct tests and government seemed unprepared. However, about half of the cases out of the total 5,038 reported, has been the result of local transmission, confirmed the SAMP Dr Zafar Mirza on April 12 briefing.
No wonder, Pakistan PM Imran Khan stated that developing countries are in dire need of international support and relieving of debts could be a promising start. This message has been endorsed by some other leaders as well.
The coronavirus poses an existential threat to lives, social structures and economies of South Asian countries and calls for coordinated measures, most importantly taking care of the poor sections especially the daily wagers’ woes. But this challenge should not be used as an excuse of imposing sanctions on freedom of expression.