The Coronavirus is currently spreading very quickly through Italy and Iran and has now progressed moving quickly through the whole Middle East. No matter how many free spins we are offered, it feels as if humans are not going to come out on top of this situation.
As of February 26, 2020, there are 81,234 cases of Coronavirus in the world. 2,769 people have died, and 30,312 have recovered. So for those who have run the full course of the disease, 8% have died and 92% have recovered.
There are 48,153 currently infected patients (that we know of). Of those 39,302 (82%) are in mild condition, and 8,851 are in serious or critical condition (18%). China’s figures are a 9-hour delay, and everybody else’s figures are up to a 2-hour delay. That is making a big assumption that the government of a given country is cooperating, and everybody is being honest.
If you want to read the current figures yourself, they can be seen on any number of websites.
Uganda, at the current time, does not show any. The closest country to Uganda with an infected person is in Algeria, where they have 1 infected person.
But as we have seen with Italy, South Korea, and Iran, the virus can change from “under control” to “not under control” within a very short period of time.
Italy
The Coronavirus hit Italy on 31 January 2020, when two Chinese tourists tested positive for the virus in Rome. On 21 February 2020, there were 16 cases. 76 cases on 22 February 2020. As of 26 February 2020, there were 344 cases.
So unless somebody is not very good at doing math, within a period of 4 days, the virus spread to an additional 270 people.
Iran
Although I can tell you the figures that have been released by Iran, the Iranian government does not have a history of being honest, even when the safety and well being of its people depend on it. Expect any numbers to be a dramatic underestimate.
19 February 2020, 2 people infected and died on the same day. As I said, nothing coming from the Iranian government can be trusted.
20 February 2020, 3 new cases, two from the city of Qom. At the time, Qom was where a major religious pilgrimage was taking place. In other words, people from all over the Arab world were in that city at the same time in crowded markets and social events.
21 February 2020, 13 new cases, surprise, surprise. Two more have died.
22 February 2020, 10 more infected people.
23 February 2020, 43 infected people in total. Total dead is 8. Those figures equal an 18% death rate, double the 9% death rate that is being reported worldwide.
24 February 2020, 61 infected. 12 are dead. 19.61% death rate.
25 February 2020, 50 deaths in Qom alone. The official count of infected is 95. If that was true, it would mean that Iran has a death rate of 53%. Iran’s official figures cannot be trusted.
The current suspected infection rate is estimated to be around 900. That would mean that a total of 62 have died, and that would be a death rate of 6.88%, below the worldwide figures.
Al Jazeera English attributed public skepticism of government transparency. 53% death rate in Iran when the rest of the world is having figures around 9%! Yes, it is safe to assume that Iran is not only lying to the rest of the world. Iran is also lying to its own people.
Let’s go back in time to February 6, 2020.
“Arab Media: Coronavirus a sinister US plot”
Articles started to appear in Arab media accusing the US of doing an attack on Arab nations with the Coronavirus on February 3, 2020. Do some quick math in your head, and nations in the Arab world were already infected by that date. Instead of these governments providing their people with correct information, so they can protect themselves, they chose to play the “blame the US” game.
These are the claims that the Arab nations were making at that time.
“The U.S. is trying to profit by selling vaccines to treat the coronavirus” If the US does not create a virus, the US is evil because they are letting people die. If the US does create a virus, the US is evil, because the companies who invested the research and development into the virus will make a profit for their hard work.
“[the US goal was to] weaken China and make it appear to be a third-world nation incapable of handling an outbreak.” All evidence is pointing to a breach in a China research lab. Either something got out that should not have, or as some have claimed, infected lab animals (bats) were sold on the black market as food instead of being disposed of properly.
“discovered yesterday in China; tomorrow it will be discovered in Egypt, but it will not be discovered in … US or Israel”. Egypt had 1 person who caught the virus and has fully recovered. Congratulations Egypt. The US has 57 people who caught the virus and zero people have fully recovered. Israel has 2 people who caught the virus and zero people who have fully recovered. Egypt seems to be ahead of the game on this one.
“The US wants to inform the world, and especially China itself, … that China is still a backward country whose citizens eat bat soup” A lot of evidence is pointing to the fact that the bat in the bat soup came from a research lab. Instead of the bat being disposed of properly, the infected bat was sold on the black market.
Summary
I wanted to end this article by writing some positive words of encouragement, but the first article that I came to was titled “180 sick cattle sold in Kampala”. These cows had FMD, foot and mouth disease. The article was dated November 18, 2019.
What is even more disturbing “In rural areas, consumers have much less choice of butchers and the retailers are reported to slaughter diseased animals or sell products in a dirty and unsafe environment.” There is not an exact date, but this article was also published in 2019.
When I read and write those words, I feel like I am back in 11th grade and reading the book “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair.
If I had to end this article with one final thought, it is this … Read the book “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair.
The publication of the book “The Jungle” was directly related to the creation of the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration). The book is available for free from Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/140.
Every man, woman, and child in Uganda should read that book. In 2020, there is no excuse for those types of practices to still be going on in any country.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
