The major role in combating the current pandemic should be played by both governments and international Organizations, by preventing and mitigating the pandemic.
by Ruwantissa Abeyratne
Writing from Montreal
We live in a surreal world: we cannot attend church; our libraries and sports centres have been closed and all events have been postponed indefinitely. We cannot go to our workplaces. There is chaos at airports with confused passengers desperately trying to get home on airlines which have cancelled 75 per cent of their flights. The New York Times of 15 March 2020 says of the United States: “The United States began a new week on Sunday in a profoundly different place than it was seven days ago. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, there would be no Sunday worship in many churches. No “Selection Sunday” for college basketball tournaments. No trips to the library in Los Angeles, or Broadway shows in New York, or visiting Grandma at a Florida nursing home”.
In the past century, there were three known major influenza pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 1968. In the current incipient century we have had the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003; the Avian Flu which followed a few years later, and now in 2020 the COVID 19 pandemic becomes the sixth. With the dimension of hyper globalization, the current pandemic has enabled the virus to spread quickly across the world. Three European countries: Italy, Spain and France are already under lockdown. It is reported that Germany will close its borders with France, Switzerland and Austria on Monday 16 March at 8 a.m. local time, though goods and commuter traffic will still be allowed to flow.
In short, almost every aspect of human existence has come to a standstill.
The difference between the SARS crisis of the first decade of this century and the current COVID 19 pandemic is that whereas the impact of SARS was on the demand side, in the form of consumption and the demand for services contracted, the current pandemic also affects and impacts the supply side, as members of the labour force fall sick and in some cases succumb to the disease. COVID 19 will also destroy human and physical capital, reducing global growth potential and have a significant impact on the global economy. Furthermore, this pandemic will make investment drop significantly and will not allow a revival for a long time. Deaths resulting from the pandemic could reduce the work force drastically and as the pandemic proliferates it could lower the world GDP drastically.
Another factor that could affect the global economy is the psychological factor. Regionally, a virulent global pandemic could have serious results on the confidence of Europe, North America and Asia which have built their economies on their growth potential. There will be a significant loss to business as importers, exporters and the service industry experience a serious drop in demand. A direct corollary to this trend would be the closure of many businesses, lowering future investment and employment.
The Avian flu of 2010 which followed SARS was different from earlier outbreaks of a pandemic. Firstly, the world had been warned in advance. Secondly, this warning gave us ample opportunity to prepare for an outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) observed that, since late 2003, the world had progressively moved closer to a pandemic since 1968 when the last pandemic of the twentieth century occurred. WHO also said that, during 2005, ominous changes had been observed in the epidemiology of the disease in animals. WHO advised that, as a response to a pandemic threat, the world should take advantage of the gradual process of the adaptive mutation of the virus and implement early intervention with antiviral drugs, supported by other public health measures.
In this regard, measures had already been proposed both by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) along with a draft global strategy. WHO had prepared a comprehensive avian influenza preparedness plan which recognizes that air travel might hasten the spread of a new virus and decrease the time available for preparing intervention. At an international meeting of health ministers held in Ottawa in October 2005, it was stressed that there was a need for a multi sectoral approach calculated to: strengthen the capacity for surveillance; develop a global approach to vaccine and anti-viral policy for research and development; and, above all, achieve full transparency between countries and institutions involved in responding to the risk of a pandemic, while carrying out a global programme to conduct disease surveillance.
Noteworthy in the current context is that as early as 1975, WHO had issued a policy statement which subsumed its philosophy on health and human rights which stated that the individual was obliged to notify the health authorities when he was suffering from a communicable disease (including venereal diseases) or has been exposed to infection, and must undergo examination, treatment, surveillance, isolation or hospitalization. In particular, obligatory isolation or hospitalization in such cases constitutes a limitation on freedom of movement and the right to liberty and security of person.
The major role in combating the current pandemic should be played by both governments and international Organizations, by preventing and mitigating the pandemic. Such an effort would naturally require cooperation and coordination, along with a concerted effort on the part of the international community to coordinate assistance with a view to ensuring support for all major areas while obviating duplication of efforts. A key support area would lie in financing, particularly poor countries and the provision of critical commodities to them.
Since the rapid global spread of the COVID 19 virus has for the most part been spread by air transport, it is needless to say that the industry should play a key role in this endeavour, which is all the more reason to have a contingency plan for the sustenance of global air transport in a crisis situation.
Looking back, on 18 November 2005, during the SARS crisis, temperature screening of people arriving at Hong Kong at Lowu and Lok Ma Chau were activated using infra-red thermo imagery techniques. This measure amply demonstrated that, from an air transport perspective, technology was available to combat an outbreak of a pandemic around the world. States will find it increasingly easier to implement measures once used during the SARS crisis, particularly as both ICAO and The International Air Transport Association (IATA) carried out an exhaustive programme of action when the SARS crisis erupted. Both Organizations worked closely with WHO during that crisis and are continuing their efforts at present in the context of the new threat to public health. IATA’s Medical Advisory Group worked with WHO to develop guidelines for check-in agents, cabin crew, cleaning staff and maintenance staff. The International civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) put into action a systemic approach to a possible outbreak of communicable disease. At the 35th Session of the ICAO Assembly, held in September/October 2004, ICAO Contracting States adopted Resolution A 35–12, which declared that the protection of the health of passengers and crews on international flights is an integral element of safe air travel and that conditions should be in place to ensure its preservation in a timely and cost effective manner. Through this Resolution, the Council was requested to review existing Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) of relevant Annexes to the Chicago Convention and adopt new SARPs as necessary, while maintaining institutional arrangements to coordinate efforts by Contracting States and other members of the international civil aviation community.
After three major crises in the first 20 years of this incipient Century, we should have the same tenacity now.
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