The novel coronavirus causes COVID 19, which is a deadly disease that kills a human being within weeks. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease as a pandemic and since then governments are rolling out measures to prevent the spread. Djibouti President threaten to put tougher measures to contain the virus.
Experts advise people to follow the measures to remain safe and healthy. No one wants to die of coronavirus. However, the situation in Djibouti and Egypt is very different. The citizens in these two countries do not follow the coronavirus measures, since report witnesses see them carrying themselves just casually.
Tougher Measures and the Virus
Djibouti is located in the Horn of Africa. Somalia borders in the south, Ethiopia in the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea in the east. The country is very small, having only 23200 square kilometers. Two communities inhabit the land of Djibouti: the Somali and Afar.
Djibouti has a population of about 1 million and holds American and French soldiers’ stations. The number of coronavirus cases in Djibouti has been increasing following the ignorance of measures by its people.
The number of cases in the country is 985 and 2 deaths. Authorities have been conducting large mass testing identifying more cases of the coronavirus. So far, the authorities have done over 9500 tests over the big population size.
This shows that the rate of testing and contact tracing in the continent is very low. Out of the billion population of Africa, the medical experts have only conducted about 500000 tests.
According to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Djibouti has the biggest occurrence of coronavirus cases in Africa. The health officials say that their efforts in containing the coronavirus are still yet not impressive since the president declared a nationwide lockdown.
The health ministry further says that the situation of the coronavirus is getting no better as cases surge. Ismail Omar, the president of Djibouti, is not happy about the fact of medical incompetence in controlling the disease.
The president has ruled Djibouti since 1999. Guelleh says, “Everyone has not respected the confinement, and unfortunately many of our compatriots still take this disease lightly,”
Lockdown In Djibouti
The government of Djibouti ordered its people to stay at home to control the spread of the disease. Authorities gave exceptions to only those people in essential businesses to be outside. Movement using public transport was not there since public transport acts as a hotspot for the spread of coronavirus.
Besides, the government ordered the closure of the country’s borders, learning institutions, and mosques. Despite the lockdown, the citizens of Djibouti are still crowding at the capital doing businesses, and rarely do they wear protective gear.
Ismail Omar threatens to increase and tighten measures such as imposing a restrictive curfew. Most people are not observing these protective measures because they lack the patience of waiting for the restriction period to expire.
Most of the people in Djibouti are poor since they survive on less than 3USD per day. The unemployment rate is also high according to 2017 statistics.
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