The coronavirus crisis might very well be intensifying. Most specialists predict that the rest of April could see the pandemic worsening in different parts of the world, as numbers grow steadily.
However, that might not be a bad thing, they say. It means that COVID-19 testing is being accelerated around the world, henceforth; more cases will be discovered, allowing health authorities to curb the random infections by identifying the infected people and those close to them. They will get treated.
We should not be alarmed. This is actually a cause for optimism, albeit a cautious one. To help make that genuine optimism a reality, we all need to do our part of the process.
This process may take some time but it ultimately means that the outbreak could finally be confined.
In the UAE, which is one of the leading countries in the world in the number of tests conducted since the beginning of the crisis, another 277 new coronavirus cases were announced on Monday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 2076. This should not be a cause for alarm, officials said.
“We do not view the increase in cases with a negative perspective, but rather the opposite,” the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s spokesperson Dr. Farida Al Hosani said, commenting on the new numbers.
The numbers have risen because the UAE has intensified its medical examination campaign and enlarged the scope of testing among citizens and residents, she explained.
People who criticised China’s handing of the outbreak, when it started more than two months ago, now concede that the model authorities used there: to test, confine and restrict social mixing, has succeeded in bringing the pandemic under control dramatically.
This model is now being used in major European countries, which became last month the new epicentre of the pandemic. This week’s number show a slowdown in the new cases in Italy, Spain and France for example.
Therefore, the more testing is being conducted, the more new cases will be confirmed in the UAE. But we should not be alarmed. This is actually a cause for optimism, albeit a cautious one.
To help make that genuine optimism a reality, we all need to do our part of the process.
We all need to remain vigilant and calm and stay at home. The public’s cooperation with the containment measure is the key to overcome this crisis.
Flouting the rules will only harm you and those you care about. Work can be done from home. There is sufficient stock of essential commodities.
There is no need for panic. Together, we will come out of this sooner rather than later. And we will come out stronger.
