AFTER months of imposing strict restrictions or lockdown rules, many countries across the world have started easing these control measures. What has this meant at a global level?
Over the past couple of months or so, at different paces, states in the United States and countries across Europe and Asia have been gradually easing lockdown measures.
But some regions are facing rising cases of Covid-19, which has made segments of the public and some officials question the wisdom of relaxing restrictions.
At the same time, parts of Australia and many South American countries have had to enforce stricter rules again after a steep rise in coronavirus infections following an initial relaxation of lockdown measures. All over the world, there are heated debates around the legitimacy of loosening or maintaining restrictive rules.
Even the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has recently expressed concern about the actions that some countries have taken in easing restrictions.
He warned that some countries might be giving up on lockdown too soon.
It was a little over 4 months ago that the WHO declared the new coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. So how is the world faring now?
While some regions are witnessing a steady improvement in coronavirus case rates, others face an increase in numbers that may lead to the implementation of stricter regulations once again.
States such as Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont are doing better, possibly thanks to the fact that they have stuck to strategies such as asking residents to wear face coverings in public, encouraging continued work-from-home policies, or having strict quarantine or self-isolation rules for those traveling in and out of the state. Natural Disasters Won’t Stop Just Because THERE’S A PANDEMIC: HOW WE CAN BE PREPARED: As the Covid-19 pandemic continues unabated in the United States, state and county emergency management agencies are taking extra precautions to reduce coronavirus risks faced by people evacuating their homes because of hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters.
Likewise, physicians and hospitals who treat millions of for seasonal influenza each year will have to face the prospect that each cough or sniffle could be something much more than the flu.
