New Zealand has become the first country in the world to abandon the restrictions imposed to contain the Coronvirus with the exception of its closed borders. People from overseas arriving in the country will still be required to go into isolation for ten days to stop the virus being reintroduced by an infected arrival.
What it means for ordinary New Zealand citizens is the end of containment measures such as keeping a one point five metre distance from one another. Shops and businesses are expeced to reopen immediately and the former carefree life of eating out and having a beer in a pub will be reinstated.
New Zealand is a very small country by world standards and it reacted quickly when this pandemic roared out of China. Unfortunately the rest of the world was not so prudent. This virus is still to reach its peak in parts of South America, Indonesia and other asian hot spots. The United States was slow to take counter measures and now its death rate is one of the world's highest.
Thankfully, the infection rate here in Australia is fast coming under control. The positive outcomes from testing continues to drop and we have started to conditionally ease restrictions. The lockdown certainly damaged our economy and curious Australian eyes will be focussed across the the Tasman to see how quickly New Zealand business recovers and how the employment figures react.
Now that recovery is in sight it may be a good time to look to the future. The last serious pandemic was the Spanish Flu in 1918, but we did have MERS and SARS that caused a moderate death rate and we would do well to remember that Ebola is still bubbling away in parts of Africa. In an ever more crowded world, the scientists tell us that future pandemics are inevitable.
The research needed to determine how this Coronavirus made the crossover from the animal world is being hampered by politics. It originated in China, but the Chinese government is creating obstacles to any serious investigation and the blame game is being enthusiastically applied to cover the inadaquecies of their ruler's response. Because of this, the origin of this pandemic will probably remain a mysterty.
The next time we may not be so lucky. The majority of infected people recovered from this virus but if Ebola ever manages to get a foothold in a crowded community it would be catastrophic. It could easily kill half the worlds population. As we recover from this pandemic, it is vitally important that we put in place the measures needed to contain the next one !
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