Found myself almost cheering yesterday when listening to a chap on Sky News, an expert on infectious diseases who'd worked extensively in various African nations, talking about the problems the British government has had in dealing with the pandemic. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't cheering in relation to those problems, which he was analysing in quite damning detail. And the chap wasn't trying to sound nasty as he was keen to acknowledge just how difficult it is to get a grip on any pandemic.
No, it was when he referenced Rawanda that I had to control my desire to cheer. Astonishingly (in my jaundiced eyes, given the bad news that so often comes out of that sad nation) they've been extremely successful (so far) with regard to the measures they've taken and the chap was suggesting that the nation of my birth had much to learn from them. Basically Rawanda has had to deal with so many threats related to infectious diseases - Ebola for one - that they've developed real expertise in these areas.
One of my dark fears in the early days of the pandemic was that Africa in general was going to face its most savage effects. It seems a major mercy, worth celebration, that that scenario has not come to pass.
I must say, and I did say this at length to the Missus this morning, I reckon the UK could also learn a lot from the Far Place in which I currently, very happily, reside in terms of how to deal with their current problems related to containing the pandemic. I keep looking at the number of Covid-19 related deaths here (27 and not rising, having not risen for quite some time) and wondering why western governments aren't queuing up to find out just how it was done.
Of course, it isn't over yet, and definitive judgements are inappropriate, but the signs are there and are surely worth reading, and reading closely.
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