, ?|| East better than West in fighting Corona
What did the Western world get so fatally wrong in tackling Covid-19 and how did East Asian nations get it so right? Look at Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Japan, and South Korea which, for now, have minimal Covid-19 caseloads and where lifes approaching near normal. Then, look at the second Covid wave slamming into the US and Europe, overloading hospitals and forcing countries to close bars and restaurants and impose curfews. The stark Covid divergence between the East and West can be seen in the numbers. For instance, while South Korea had 77 new Covid cases on October 24, the US recorded an incredible 79,453 fresh infections.
For answers to the whys behind these different performances, first consider that Asian countries already had experience tackling smaller epidemics like SARS and MERS. In short, they knew the pandemic drill: test, trace, isolate, wear masks and communicate the anti-virus message clearly, allowing them to respond rapidly with scale.
These countries also employed sophisticated technology to track contacts and enforce isolation, combing smartphone records and CCTV footage, actions resisted as intrusive in the West. Also, Asias population is younger and possibly more disease-resistant thanks to regular scourges like dengue and malaria. Says Dipyaman Ganguly, Indian Institute of Chemical Biologys principal scientist: Serious discussions are on to look into whether infection exposure in these countries may prepare immune systems to respond more efficiently to Covid.
By contrast, the Wests been free of highly infectious maladies and many people have been in denial about Covids dangers. Even with tens of thousands of Covid deaths (so far, the US has notched up more than 236,000 deaths and the UK has recorded over 44,000), many in the West have rejected infection and isolation controls as infringements on entrenched freedoms.
Lets dig deeper into what the Asian nations got right. For that, zoom in on Kashgar, capital of Chinas Xinjiang province where 165 asymptomatic cases were discovered late last week. By Sunday afternoon, the government reported testing 2.8 million people. Or look at Chinese port city Qingdao which earlier this month tested nine million people in five days (thats 1.8 million a day) after 12 Covid-19 cases were reported. It helped that Chinas already got a strong test lab system thanks partly to its Human Genome Project participation. This gave China a massive head-start when it moved into mass testing. In Beijing, too, health workers descended after 250 cases erupted in June. In 10 days, 2.95 million samples were collected and the infection was stamped out.
By the looks of it, Chinese aggressive mass-testing works. Today, lifes back almost to pre-Covid days with 630 million Chinese travelling during the Golden Week holidays in early October. Some even visited Wuhan, now an unlikely tourist draw as where the pandemic originated.
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/covid-control-why-the-west-lags-the-east/article32965492.ece
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, ?|| East better than West in fighting Corona What did the Western world get so fatally wrong in tackling Covid-19 and how did East Asian nations get it so right? Look at Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Japan, and South Korea which, for now, have minimal Covid-19 caseloads and where lifes approaching near normal. Then, look at the second Covid wave slamming into the US and Europe, overloading hospitals and forcing countries to close bars and restaurants and impose curfews. The stark Covid divergence between the East and West can be seen in the numbers. For instance, while South Korea had 77 new Covid cases on October 24, the US recorded an incredible 79,453 fresh infections. For answers to the whys behind these different performances, first consider that Asian countries already had experience tackling smaller epidemics like SARS and MERS. In short, they knew the pandemic drill: test, trace, isolate, wear masks and communicate the anti-virus message clearly, allowing them to respond rapidly with scale. These countries also employed sophisticated technology to track contacts and enforce isolation, combing smartphone records and CCTV footage, actions resisted as intrusive in the West. Also, Asias population is younger and possibly more disease-resistant thanks to regular scourges like dengue and malaria. Says Dipyaman Ganguly, Indian Institute of Chemical Biologys principal scientist: Serious discussions are on to look into whether infection exposure in these countries may prepare immune systems to respond more efficiently to Covid. By contrast, the Wests been free of highly infectious maladies and many people have been in denial about Covids dangers. Even with tens of thousands of Covid deaths (so far, the US has notched up more than 236,000 deaths and the UK has recorded over 44,000), many in the West have rejected infection and isolation controls as infringements on entrenched freedoms. Lets dig deeper into what the Asian nations got right. For that, zoom in on Kashgar, capital of Chinas Xinjiang province where 165 asymptomatic cases were discovered late last week. By Sunday afternoon, the government reported testing 2.8 million people. Or look at Chinese port city Qingdao which earlier this month tested nine million people in five days (thats 1.8 million a day) after 12 Covid-19 cases were reported. It helped that Chinas already got a strong test lab system thanks partly to its Human Genome Project participation. This gave China a massive head-start when it moved into mass testing. In Beijing, too, health workers descended after 250 cases erupted in June. In 10 days, 2.95 million samples were collected and the infection was stamped out. By the looks of it, Chinese aggressive mass-testing works. Today, lifes back almost to pre-Covid days with 630 million Chinese travelling during the Golden Week holidays in early October. Some even visited Wuhan, now an unlikely tourist draw as where the pandemic originated. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/covid-control-why-the-west-lags-the-east/article32965492.ece
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