Editorial

With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading globally, causing public anxiety across continents and disrupting economies and the daily lives of people, the UN health agency, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued its ‘highest alert’. Asking all nations to ‘wake up, get ready’, the WHO chief stressed every government’s duty to their citizens and the world to get ready.

Local health authorities, led by the Minister no less, were quick to claim victory by clearing one patient. How premature was that is left to be seen. That the virus has spread to countries where many Sri Lankans work – South Korea, Italy and West Asia — and frequent — Singapore, should ring alarm bells.

Sri Lanka is no stranger to epidemics. The earliest record of an ‘imported’ disease was probably a skin ailment that came with the Portuguese. This was followed in the 19th century by the outbreak of cholera and smallpox. The spread of these diseases gathered speed with the opening of the coffee and tea plantations and the arrival of indentured labour from South India to work on these estates.

Mannar, from where this labour entered the island became a hot-bed of disease. The town lost one-sixth of its population of 13,000. The Mannar-Matale road on which the labour travelled was filled with immigrants who had fallen ill with cholera. The disease even spread to the natives who lived in the interior of Sri Lanka.

In his well-chronicled book, ‘The Making of Modern Ceylon” Dr. S.A. Meegama recorded the establishment of the Civil Medical Department in 1858 because of the extremely insanitary conditions in the Jaffna peninsula and due to its close proximity to South India for trade. It even resulted in the closure of the Great North Road with the adjacent districts of Mannar and the Vanni for immigrant traffic.

The situation was so acute that the British colonial government appointed a Cholera Commission in 1867. It observed: “Year after year sickness has been introduced by the immigrant coolies, and village after village has died out or been so reduced that only 1 or 2 families remain, and the country for some distance on each side of the Mannar-Medawaratchy road in the Mannar District is fast becoming a desert”.

The Commission’s findings became the basis of cholera control measures and among these efforts were to give priority to a) providing uncontaminated drinking water to the households affected by the outbreak, b) the segregation of the sick, and c) the disinfection of the houses of those taken ill.

Quarantine measures had to be taken in those early years, but only a feeble form of quarantine existed in Mannar that proved “virtually useless”, writes Dr. Meegama. The Principal Civil Medical Officer had referred to bodies of cholera patients thrown overboard to avoid reporting on arrival, and being washed ashore in Colombo. But the influential British planters saw to it that the Governor did not stop the inflow of all labour from India resulting in a conflict between commerce and public health.

A Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance was enacted as far back as 1897, but nothing very much has changed over the years. Now it is the tourist industry, the importers and exporters, shipping and aviation industry that want to maintain ‘business as usual’. All countries around the world locked into the global economy are unsure of how far to go to protect their citizens from this fast spreading disease that has claimed 2,933 lives and affected more than 85,000 people within two months. Economic costs are being calculated along with human costs.

China has at least now opened its eyes to the vast expanse of its exotic meat market – farms that mass produce peacocks, civet cats, pangolins, porcupines and the like for their flesh. These are the breeding grounds for these animal-to-human viruses. Thousands of these farms have been shut down across China, but the horse has already bolted from the barn.

The eating habits of the Chinese have mainly focused on the consumption of dogs, frogs, bamboo rats, snakes, squirrels, you name it. Traditional Chinese medicines come from animal body parts, and there are farms also for foxes and raccoons for their fur – which is marketed to the fashion houses of Milan, Paris and New York.

The Chinese National People’s Congress has taken measures aimed at restricting the wildlife trade banning the sale of bush meat. It is a massive industry in China. The civet cat was thought to be the potential carrier of the SARS virus that spread again from China in 2003. The Chinese authorities did nothing to stop or regulate this industry then. On the contrary, its State Forestry and Grassland Administration actively encouraged citizens into farming of wildlife, including civet cats. The world’s condemnation this time has at least made China act.

With general elections due next month, crowds gathering in one location for election rallies is exactly what has to be avoided should Sri Lanka get hit by the virus. That is why it is all the more important to implement preventive measures. The upcoming schools’ big matches and the traditional New Year celebrations will also see large congregations of people.

Unlike China or North Korea, complete lockdowns of cities cannot be enforced, though Italy is being compelled to do so. There is a tendency to take issues seriously only after something dreadful or catastrophic has happened. Last year’s Easter Sunday attack should be a textbook case. Health authorities seem confident of meeting the challenge, but ports of entry are still fairly casual and relaxed about incoming passengers, arguing they don’t want to press the panic button. However, the best laid plans can go awry as Japan has learnt with its experience in handling the virus-stricken cruise ship that arrived at one of its ports.

In those cholera epidemic years, ships bringing any infected passengers were obliged to hoist a yellow flag. But for many the sickness broke out only after landing – they were carriers. These days arriving passengers are only asked to fill a form voluntarily and pass through a heat detector. Our reporters found even this check wanting at the Colombo port where tourist-laden cruise ships continue to dock.

The country and its authorities must be on high alert till what is a deadly and still spreading disease is brought under complete control worldwide. The virus seems to have the propensity to spread like wildfire. Appointing Presidential Commissions of Inquiry ex post-facto a disaster is not the way to go.