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The difference in the statistics is surprising. In China, with 1,400 million inhabitants, 91,688 cases of covid-19 infection have been confirmed and 4,739 have died.
In Sweden, with a population of 10 million, 201,055 have been infected and 6,340 have died.
What does it depend on? DN asked the question of Dale Fisher, professor of infectious diseases at the National University of Singapore, and one of the participants of the expert team who went to China on behalf of the WHO in February when the spread of the infection was at its worst. moment.
Speed and availability:
China’s one-party system is a double-edged sword. The fact that it has passed from the moment the first cases of the virus were discovered until action was taken, many believe, was due to a fear of pushing the bad news to the absolute top.
But when the backlash came, the authoritarian system made it easy for quick and effective restrictions to be put in place. At the same time, other countries in Asia began to prepare for the virus.
Dale Fisher doubts that it would have made a major difference in the spread around the world if China had acted earlier.
– Would 20 days have made a difference? The West does not seem willing to learn from the East. When the virus broke out in Wuhan, Western politicians could have said: look at what is happening in China. They are closing the whole country because of a virus that is spreading rapidly and is deadly, we have to prepare. But they did not.
He disagrees with those who say that the kind of drastic measures that China implemented only work in an authoritarian country. Dale Fisher is targeting Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. They are all democracies that have handled the spread well.
– The virus doesn’t care what kind of political system you have. Somehow you have to adapt the measures to control the virus within your political landscape. It is clear that Sweden cannot copy China. But tough measures can also be taken in democratic societies. You just have to work on how you communicate.
Isolation:
The fact that the virus has spread so much in the world but not so much in China raises questions. Especially since millions of Chinese had time to leave Wuhan to return home for the Chinese New Year before the city closed. Many more people traveled to other parts of China than abroad.
According to Dale Fisher, the explanation lies in the fact that almost all of China closed shortly after Wuhan and all of Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital, were again blocked.
– People stayed at home and infection clusters probably formed in the homes. But it didn’t spread in the community because no one came out.
He doesn’t think it’s unbelievable that the statistics on the number of infections in China lie. Some probably stayed home with mild symptoms, but never spread the virus again. Those with noticeable symptoms were quickly isolated in hospitals or specially designated facilities, regardless of whether that meant that the children were separated from their parents.
Just urge People who feel sick staying home disagree, according to Fisher.
– It should be more mandatory.
Take an example from the state of Victoria in your native Australia.
– When the representatives of the authorities had to verify that the residents complied with the requests for home quarantine, only a third turned out to be at home. Then it becomes meaningless.
Krismedvetande:
One reason for the success of fighting viruses in Asian countries is that politicians and residents realized the severity of COVID-19 early on. As soon as they learned of the virus outbreak in Wuhan, they began preparing hospitals, testing capacity and accumulating resources for follow-up.
In Beijing, where the undersigned was in the outbreak in Wuhan, residential areas were isolated, only residents could enter, and neighborhood committees, a kind of base of the Communist Party, were committed to controlling people’s activities. As a result, the streets, buses, and the subway were empty, even though there was no formal curfew. At the same time, neighborhood committees were involved in tracking infections.
Previous experiences with viral diseases like sars and mers also meant that several countries had a crisis plan in place. South Korea, for example, introduced a crisis law after the additional outbreak in 2012. It gives authorities, among other things, the right to follow the population movement schedule during a period of crisis, which has facilitated the trace the infection. Politicians also licensed various companies early on to manufacture test equipment.
Additional factors It is that the attention capacity was revised and that the Asian countries largely closed the border with foreign countries and requires that everyone who is allowed to travel to the country be quarantined for two weeks.
In the United States and Europe, on the other hand, the reaction was delayed. Dale Fisher participated as an expert representing the WHO during a trip to China in February. The report released by the team on February 28 said: “The virus can have enormous effects on health, society and the economy. It is not sars and it is not a flu. “
The team wondered if the world was prepared and had the capacity to fight the virus.
– We were afraid that the world could not handle the virus. It saddens me that it turned out to be true.
Mouthguard:
This controversial protection has been present in virtually every Asian mouth since the outbreak. Whether it has an effect or not, the researchers argue. Dale Fisher has gone from simply believing that people with symptoms of illness should have mouth guards to advocating general use.
– When it became clear that even those who have the virus without symptoms can become infected, I changed my mind. If you can infect without getting sick, it is important that everyone has a worm. It is an easy thing to do and has few drawbacks.
Read more: Life has returned to Wuhan, the city where it all began
