DOREEN NAWA
Lusaka
WHILE the COVID-19 crisis is sending shock-waves in the country and around the globe, low-income developing countries like Zambia are in a particularly difficult position to respond.
As evidenced from the daily updates given by the Ministry of Health, Zambia has been hit hard by the pandemic this time around.
The disease is claiming lives at an alarming rate compared to what it was last year.
The COVID-19 crisis presents the world and Zambia in particular with a huge challenge as every aspect of life has been affected.
While coronavirus is a health crisis, it is also an education crisis, an employment and economic crisis.
COVID-19 is also a crisis of hunger and poverty and, in some countries it is a crisis of governance and political stability too.
The pandemic has caused panic everywhere with some sections of society suggesting that the country should consider a total lock-down in order to combat and reduce the risks of COVID-19 infections.
Different stakeholders are divided about the response. Some want a lock-down, while others feel that Zambia cannot afford these restrictions as there is no money to distribute food or support small businesses and the self-employed.
So far, there has been temporary lock-downs imposed in selected towns such as Kafue and Nakonde in order to carry out tracing and testing.
At national level, schools and universities were closed in March last year as well as bars and restaurants.
Only a limited number of people are allowed to attend funerals, weddings and churches.
Civil servants go to work but are on a rotational schedule so as to limit the number of people in offices. Many companies and organisations have also adopted this approach.
But with the coming of the second wave of COVID-19, the cases and deaths are skyrocketing.
No day passes without recording a COVID-19 related death and this has caused panic among the public with some calling for a total lock-down.
But last week President Edgar Lungu said while in Isoka that he would not close the country’s economy as a result of escalating cases of coronavirus because this can cause more harm to people’s lives.
Looking at the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, President Lungu said a lock-down is not a solution to stopping the spread of COVID-19 but adhering to preventive measures set by health experts such as wearing of face masks, social distancing and avoiding gatherings.
“I won’t allow the economy to close like other countries have done. Some people have advocated for a curfew, but I have said no,” he said.
President Lungu feels businesses will be negatively affected if the country is locked down or a curfew is imposed.
“We should find practical solutions to the challenges we are facing. I am an advocate that we should keep the economy running because if we, for example, close butcheries, people won’t have anything to eat,” President Lungu said.
Business people have been urged to ensure that their customers always wear face masks before entering their premises to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Government knows that when the private sector collapses, there will be no jobs. We need to see how we can help you by giving you incentives,” President Lungu said.
President Lungu’s justifications for not locking down the country have been backed by different people in various sectors of the economy.
Economic Association of Zambia president Lubinda Habaazoka says the benefits of lockdowns as a containment strategy for COVID-19 are still uncertain for developing countries like Zambia.
Dr Habaazoka says Zambia cannot survive a lock-down because it is a small economy with the country’s population depending on informal jobs.
He says Covid-19 threatens to undo progress achieved towards the country’s economy over the recent decades, worse off if a lock-down is imposed.
“I think the stance taken by President Lungu not to lock-down is best because the country needs to be on its wheels to recovering whatever was lost last year during the pandemic. All we have to do is adhere to the COVID-19 restrictions that have been lined up,” Dr Habaazoka says.
Dr Habaazoka says the strategy of testing, tracing and isolating is the only feasible way to allow economies like Zambia to operate with minor interruptions and allowing people to mask up all the time.
He says a total lockdown would stop the spreading of the disease sooner but would cost many lives and cause social devastation to the country.
“We are a small economy and we know the risks that COVID is has posed on us all. But locking down the country is not the solution, doing so will worsen the progress made in developing different sectors of the economy,” Dr Habaazoka says.
A cross-section of people in Lusaka also feels that a lockdown is not possible because the country has fewer people in formal jobs.
Precious Sichivula, a trader on Lusaka’s Cairo Road, says a lock-down would be far more difficult for Zambia because the country’s social protection systems are often lacking.
“Even where they exist, they often fail to reach people in the informal economy, who are the most vulnerable and often constitute a majority. So lock-down is not possible,” she says.
Ms Sichivula says there is an urgent need for the international community to support vulnerable countries in developing and implementing strategies for restarting their economies.
Ms Sichivula says COVID-19 is a health and economic crisis and if a lock-down is imposed, the pandemic risks turning into a financial crisis, which can be contagious as the recession in 2008 showed.
According to the country’s Economic Outlook released by the African Development Bank, preliminary forecasts show that the country’s economic activity growth is rebounding moderately to 2.4 percent in 2020 while in 2021 it shows an improvement of 2.9 percent.
