Many countries reacted to the Corona virus differently depending on their experiences. Two countries that had downplayed the threat at the very beginning are now paying the heavy price. US President Donald Trump had called it a Democratic Party “hoax”, a gimmick to regain the presidency in the run-up to next year’s presidential elections. Today the US has overtaken China with the highest numbers of infections – about 100,000 – and deaths are increasing at an alarming rate. Italy, another country that dismissed the COVID-19 warnings, now they are overwhelmed to the extent that yesterday 900 people died. Closer at home, Tanzania and Burundi have put the fate of their countries in the hands of the Almighty and the latter is still living in denial despite Tanzanian health officials announcing that a truck driver who had crossed from Burundi was found with the virus. A Bujumbura private hospital also raised suspicions even higher when it urgently requested for reagents to test some suspicious cases. Only time will tell, but it is better to be safe than sorry. As Rwanda was about to begin its second week of lockdown, Kenya announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew while Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced complete shutdown. Kenya and Uganda adopted strong-arm tactics to enforce their directives and the news was full of running battles with security forces. What is clear from all the above regional countries is that they have failed to learn from Italy and the US on the importance of social distancing. Images of police herding together hundreds of people are very worrying and they only help to drive home the belief that the people in this region are not taking the pandemic seriously.
