Shehryar Hamesh Khan
VIRUSES are tiny parasites. They have a singular mission: to invade a host cell and use its machinery to replicate themselves — complete with their own genetic material — and then go on to infect other host cells. The new Coronavirus, which has a comparatively large genome, is racing through parts of China and beginning to spread around the world, transmitted from person to person. The family of Coronavirus is so named because of its resemblance to a crown with spikes — some say it looks like the sun during an eclipse, with a halo.
But there is nothing bright about the fact that it can cause a respiratory disease that can harm and kill human beings. This is important to understand in order to consider the appropriate response. For healthy people, the body’s immune system is an essential first line of defence. There are other methods such as isolating the infected, hand-washing, masks, protective gear or quarantine. And once infection has set in, it is imperative to treat patients and help them recover.
Physical isolation, rapid diagnostics of suspected cases and monitoring of others can be vital tools. These depend on early detection and information sharing, a lesson reinforced over and over again in previous outbreaks. China’s draconian lockdown of Wuhan and other cities was an attempt to physically contain the outbreak, a worthy goal that may have been compromised by the secrecy and paranoia of China’s own leaders, who did not share information with the population. If the new Coronavirus remains largely in China, then the cordon may have helped. But there is a serious possibility the virus will spread. The tiny particles are opportunists. They know no roads, no rivers nor fences; they recognize no national flags. The new corona virus may become a global pathogen, as is influenza today.
That’s why physical measures and impositions such as limits on travel and trade, which the United States and other developed nations are now imposing on China, can become problematic. All the lessons of the 2014 Ebola epidemic were that such restrictions further harmed an already suffering region, as it did not allow adequate medical attention to reach the area, in fact creating a global stigma which also led to racism. “Prevention is better than avoidance cure”. The World Health Organization’s 2005 International Health Regulations, which cover 194 countries including the United States, call for rapid response to the outbreak at source as the most effective way to fight an outbreak and to “minimize unnecessary restrictions to travel and trade.”
The United States, Germany, Sri Lanka, France, Cambodia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Vietnam, Macao and South Korea have suffered immensely and still are. And this is all despite the isolation. Despite the belief that “we are safe in our homes, this cannot reach us.” Yet it has spread from one corner of the Pacific to the other. This is no longer a national issue, it’s an international one. And sitting back and letting one nation handle it will not yield any benefits, but will surely yield harm.
Perhaps it is human nature to want to slam the door, but those who have been through this before wisely infer that shutting down air routes and disrupting trade for a prolonged period will hurt more than it will help. It will further aggrieve the people and will harm any negotiations set at ending the Sino-US Trade War. Supply chains that are critical to the global economy, involving autos, technology and even the face masks which have become such a common sight in recent weeks, are made in China and are vital to everyone else. We must move on from emotion and fear to the accepting the practical needs of coping with the new Coronavirus if it becomes a global pandemic. Surveillance, diagnostics and improving capacity in health care systems, as well as new therapies, are practical priorities. A head on approach is required. Isolation has not helped in the past, yet has further aggravated issues. And this is no exception.
—The writer is freelance columnist, based in Lahore.
