Opinion

Globalization of viruses!

February 02, 2020
Globalization of viruses!

Hussein Shobokshi



CHINA is famous for exporting clothes, home appliances, electronic gadgets and, of course, deadly viruses. The last named item gains credibility now after the outbreak of the lethal Coronavirus in that country, just as it has death-dealing viruses such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and bird flu.

Today there are very shocking numbers; as a precautionary measure China has isolated areas with 45 million of its citizens, after the number of infections exceeded 1,5000 cases, and the number of deaths crossed the 300 mark, and emergence of infected cases in Australia, Japan, South Korea, France, Thailand, US, India and the UAE.

There is fear that the virus will reach other countries very soon, in addition to other reports that the number of infected people is much more than what has officially been announced by China so far. The terrifying and spectacular transmission of viruses due to the ease of travel and facilitated mobility has made the reality of "globalization of viruses" a real issue, moving from the science fiction novels to the realities of today.

Viruses are no longer "isolated" geographically, and perhaps the last of these examples was Ebola, which remained largely within the borders of the the African continent, but today there is a state of panic, fear and anxiety in dealing with this new disease, especially since it has no vaccine or treatment for it.

At the time of writing these lines, Chinese President Xi was holding an emergency meeting of the Poliburo. He said the country was facing a very dangerous situation that the Coronavirus was spreading very quickly; some hospitals were being built urgently to provide quick treatment. The World Health Organization is cautious in its statements so far, because it does not want to cause a global panic that may turn into a hysteria.

There are hundreds of flights a day from China to the world, and caution is required. The environmental situation in China needs to be seriously reviewed because it has turned into a real global threat, especially after news reports indicated that the virus was transmitted from snakes that the Chinese eat, and after that the virus moved from humans to humans, which has terrifyingly multiplied infections.

Economic gobalization ended due to recent events, but globalization of diseases and viruses still exists. Coronavirus is a very serious disease, and it should be treated proactively with all possible means.

Viruses grow faster, develop and adapt to resistance against them soon. In light of human adventures in their food system, forbidden lines disappear in the animal kingdom, and therefore this kind of deadly disease appears and will continue to appear.

There are reports from the United States that they have repeatedly warned China that there was a lack of quality control and a malfunction in the management of health laboratories that will cause an uncontrolled lethal virus leak. In any case, there is a disastrous snowball rolling over.


February 02, 2020
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