Permalink Submitted by Brandaan Huigen on 24 March 2020
Organization/ affiliation:
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin
Thanks for this insightful piece.
Your point about uneven linkages is interesting. Air traffic to South Africa is extensive compared to other African countries (Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria also have a fair share). Both tourists and travelling South Africans in Europe have been the main cause of the increase in alarm and actual infection of COVID-19 in the country.
Over the past week, the South African case is showing that Africa will not be shielded from high infection rates stemming from travellers. As Rwanda, the country is in a strict lockdown from Thursday to try and slow the spread. This measure was taken to protect a huge part of the South African population with compromised immune systems, especially in townships.
It remains to be seen what will happen in other African countries, but South Africa is certainly seeing an increase in infections similar to the beginning stages of many European countries.
Thanks for this insightful piece.
Your point about uneven linkages is interesting. Air traffic to South Africa is extensive compared to other African countries (Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria also have a fair share). Both tourists and travelling South Africans in Europe have been the main cause of the increase in alarm and actual infection of COVID-19 in the country.
Over the past week, the South African case is showing that Africa will not be shielded from high infection rates stemming from travellers. As Rwanda, the country is in a strict lockdown from Thursday to try and slow the spread. This measure was taken to protect a huge part of the South African population with compromised immune systems, especially in townships.
It remains to be seen what will happen in other African countries, but South Africa is certainly seeing an increase in infections similar to the beginning stages of many European countries.