Argentina Responds Boldly to Coronavirus Crisis

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame SundaramSYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 2020 (IPS) Like much of the West, Argentina did not take many early precautionary actions after the Covid-19 epidemic was confirmed in January, but became the first Latin American country to act decisively with a 12 March public health emergency declaration. The presidential decree came a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic, just over a week after the first case was detected in the republic on 3 March. Anis ChowdhuryLockdown to ‘flatten the curve’ With neither vaccine nor cure available, Argentina decided on a lockdown to buy time to ‘flatten the curve’ by slowing its rapid spread and quickly enhancing its public health capacities and capabilities, to do mass testing and contact tracing, and get protective equipment for frontline health workers and respirators for the severely infected. The measures include a mandatory ‘stay in shelter’ lockdown, with those violating the order facing fines and harsh prison sentences from six months to two years, and other “social, preventive isolation” measures from 20 to 31 March, now extended to 10 May. All arrivals from Covid-19 ‘hot spots’ (including China, Iran, South Korea, Italy and the US) have to be quarantined for 14 days regardless of nationality. All direct flights between Argentina and the US as well as Europe were suspended for 30 days from 17 March, now extended indefinitely. As infections surge ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Economy & Trade Financial Crisis Health Humanitarian Emergencies Latin America & the Caribbean TerraViva United Nations Jomo Kwame Sundaram & Anis Chowdhury Source Type: news