As the pressure of the coronavirus continues to pile on many economies, many countries’ resolve to ride out the virus is starting to wane and are starting to ease their preventive conditions. Some are finding it difficult to control their populations’ adherence to the social distancing policies, others are simply overwhelmed. But one thing is for sure; some countries are under-reporting because they do not have the means and are too proud to admit it. The fact that regional cargo traffic has not been interrupted and the majority of new COVID-19 cases are linked to that sector is an obvious pointer that things are not well. In the last few days, most countries of the East African Community have announced new cases from among long-distance truck drivers and associates. Controlling the flow of goods is important, but so is protecting lives. There is no way a driver who has to cross three or four borders can be quarantined every time they cross one. An asymptomatic carrier can easily contaminate three countries without showing any signs. That is the danger we are facing now and it is encouraging that Rwandan authorities have put up preventive measures at the borders and are able to identify those infected as they have been doing of recent. As long as countries neighbouring each other don’t have equal capacities to manage and contain the virus, it will be a war lost in advance. Countries need to move at the same pace. But most importantly, countries need to have the capacity to conduct mass testing, especially along the routes plied by the long-distance drivers. Otherwise, the lockdown is with us for the foreseeable future.
