DT TIME TO FORM THE UNITED AFRICA CORONA TASK FORCE!

BY MOHAMED MATOPE The only way Africa inaweza ku contain coronavirus ni kuungana na kuanzisha Africa corona task force ambayo nchi zote ziwe zinafuata directions from one source. Task force iundwe na madaktari , nurses ,top epidemiologists , top researchers etc kutoka Africa, wapewe power na resources ya kuunda policies ambazo ziwe mandated kufuatwa na chi zote za Africa. Ukiangalia corona model ya USA kuna mengi sana ya kujifunza na probably is relevant model for Africa. On January 20, USA walipata first case ya corona in 1 state, USA has 50 states. By January 28, 5 states zika record 15 confirmed cases. At that time kama unakumbuka Trump alisema we have only 15 corona cases, by next week it would go down to 1 then it will disappear. Last week 49 US states reported confirmed corona cases, now corona is all over America. If you pay much attention you will observe clear identical pattern between USA and Africa on how coronavirus spread. On March 12, there were 100+ cases recorded in 11 countries in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Latest figures shows kuna over 700 confirmed cases in 49 countries. In USA federal government failed to coordinate county wide effort to combat the virus. As a result, state Governors act on their own enforcing statewide measures to contain the spread of virus, measures like school closing, distancing, closing offices etc. The problem is, these measures are not universal, ni state by state, therefore have failed to effectively contain and mitigate the spread of virus . Today there are more than 20,000 confirmed cases in the USA and the number has been growing by average of 500+ daily. Kuna states nyingine in USA bado hazijafunga shule zao, state nyingine bars na restaurants zipo open and are behind in testing etc. my point is it’s very difficult to contain this virus by unilateral solution . At this point , tha scale, scope and urgency of this crisis is so big and requires multination effort in resources and brain to put it under control. Today, Africa ipo 1-2 weeks behind in taking drastic measures to contain the virus. Time is very precious in this crisis. Virus vipo ndani ya nchi zetu tayari ,containment and mitigation should be a focus. Closing boarder in Africa labda sio solution nzuri. kuna msemo wa kisukuma unasema, only chizi ndio anafunga mlango wa zizi wakati ngombe wake wote wametoroka . Alafu kumbuka sisi waafrica tupo very interconnected, ni vigumu kwa mfano, kuwatenganisha wanigeria na wabenini. Ni watu wanaozungumza lugha moja na wana culture moja . Kama Africa haito jifunza kutoka kwenye kosa la USA la ku act unilaterally, state by state, Africa itapata tatizo la vifo vingi na wagonjwa wengi na itashidwa ku control the spread of virus. Corona ni global problem that need global, in the Africa’s case. regional cooperation and leadership to manage it.