THE nation has been focused on the lockdown in Metro Manila and the whole of Luzon for over a week now.
And it has created some unforeseen problems that are now being attended to. Most workers have adjusted to the fact that they can no longer commute to work and businesses and offices have had to carry on with skeleton forces.
One new problem that calls for government action is the report that many people, who already had a day-to-day problem of looking for food, now have nothing and have resorted to begging from the few passing cars. Most families have kept stocks of food at home sufficient for a few days or even weeks. But every community has its families who have nothing. They need help from the local governments.
The reason for the lockdown or quarantine has been to stop the movement of people as much as possible, for they may be unknowing carriers of the coronavirus. Those who have had to leave their homes for work or errands have been required to follow “social distancing” – keeping about a meter from another person This is because the coronavirus is believed able to spread from person to person through droplets in the breath of an infected person.
Social distancing will help prevent the spread of the virus. But many believe mass testing is needed to determine who really are infected with the virus.
Mass testing is underway today in some countries like South Korea. In the United States, the insufficiency of testing kits has become a political issue, with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio assailing the national government led by President Trump of severely lacking this most basic tool to fight the virus.
There was good news last week from China, where the coronavirus first emerged late last year. As of Friday, China had no new cases to report; it had 80,967 cases and 3,248 deaths. Italy had 41,035 cases and 3,405 deaths, thus surpassing China’s death toll.
Elsewhere in Europe, Spain had 17,147 cases, 767 deaths. Germany had 10,999, 24 deaths. France had 10,995 cases, 372 deaths.
In Asia, outside of China, Japan had the most cases – 958 with 32 deaths; followed by Malaysia, 900 cases, two deaths; Singapore, 345 cases, no deaths; Indonesia, 309 cases, 25 deaths; Philippines, 217 cases, 17 deaths.
In the Middle east, Israel had the most cases, 529, with no deaths; followed by Qatar, 460 cases, no deaths; Turkey, 359 cases, four deaths; Iraq, 164 cases, 12 deaths; United Arab Republic, 113 cases, no deaths.
In the Western Hemisphere, the US had 10,427 cases, 150 deaths; Canada had 736 cases, nine deaths; Brazil, 621 cases, seven deaths; Chile, 342 cases, 0 deaths; Peru, 234 cases, one death.
These are only the countries with the most cases, out of 178 countries, territories, and cruise ships in all, in a report prepared by the South China Morning Post. Statistics for COVID-19 cases and deaths are changing by the hour, so these figures are now likely to be higher.
These continuing reports of deaths and cases around the world should help us in the Philippines appreciate the lockdown that President Duterte has ordered. It may not totally stop the spread of the virus, but it will help minimize direct body contact that allows the virus to continue spreading around the world.
