COVID-19 has been rapidly spreading across the world with just only a handful of countries without any cases of COVID-19 cases, such as North Korea and Turkmenistan. Many countries have used different measures to tackle the virus. Some of the notable measures are taken by countries such as Iceland and Germany.
The Maldives governments can learn lessons from the way these countries tackled the virus. Here Corporate Maldives have listed 5 lessons we can learn from how some countries have effectively tackled the virus to flatten the curve.
- Be Prepared
Countries such as Denmark, which were praised globally for their effective way of tackling the virus, implemented prevention measures before the virus hit the country. Closing public schools, offices, and limiting public gatherings. In addition to that establishing necessary authorities to handle the policies regarding the virus, so actions are taken as soon as the virus hits the country without slowing down policies due to lengthy political processes.
In this regard, Maldives was prepared for the virus before it hit the country, and this has been evident from effective communication and timely decisions taken by the authorities.
2. Test, Trace, and Quarantine
Testing, trace, and quarantining have been the routine for effective tackling of the virus. Testing every symptomatic patient and tracing contacts to contain the spread of the virus is very important.
Maldives has been effectively testing and quarantining everyone who traveled to the country after March 14. The government has also established a special team called a rapid response team to work on the contact tracing of infected patients.
3. Using Technology to Tackle the Virus
Icelandic officials launched an App for people to chart the virus spread. The App creates a log of where the user has been. This has been an easy and effective way for Icelandic officials to trace contacts.
This kind of App will be very effective in the Maldives as it will take a lot of time from the contact tracing process and will ensure timely identification of further infected people.
4. Test More As Restriction Ease
From countries such as Germany, we can learn that it is very important to test more even when restrictions are easing. From the beginning, Germany did not stick to one to two central labs to do all the tests. They involved many private companies as well in the testing process and were able to do 100,000 a day.
Maldives can also involve the private sector to increase the number of test kits and the number of tests done each day.
5. Learn From Past
South Korea was a country that used lessons from past outbreaks such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrom in 2015, which recorded 186 cases and 38 deaths in the country. The government enforced measures with good coordination between the central government and the provinces.
Maldives can learn from previous outbreaks as well. For instance the cholera outbreak in 1978. All the measures taken at the time might not be relevant, however, the government can learn a lot of lessons from the outbreak.
