by Ahmad Al Salamah

During the Coronavirus harsh battle, the great Saudi air defense heroes defeated recent Hothian ballistic missiles successfully targeting civilians in two Saudi cities. In fact, since 2017, all Huthian attacks have been turned down by the Saudi Defence. Most of these incidents when they happened, I was in my bed, sleeping!

I see this is about where do we stand in our readiness to handle any situation when or if it happens. During the curfew time, I was asked to stay at home, and I was watching the international media. The Coronavirus dominates the news, themed around the number of infected people and that it is increasing every hour, and it features in every press.

It is unfortunate for some countries as no one can see the virus, and it penetrates to the community so fast. The battle with this virus continues to the whole world. No one knows where this is heading, and it is a scary situation for everyone. The complexity of this virus made it so hard to deal with, and the huge number of victims by the virus every hour is massive.

While I sympathize with countries that have been hit with this pandemic so quickly, I was surprised too with their readiness perhaps before but definitely during this crisis. The surprising element is that these countries were perceived to be ahead of everyone, and they have been leading health care, researches, and services. We used to get their knowledge and their disciplined doctors to visit us to work on Saudi hospitals.

No one can predict the severity of this virus nor expected the speed of spreading this virus. This sudden shock creates more pressure on healthcare and causes panic to people. It though tests the readiness of the healthcare services and logistic support, hospital capacities during any crisis. It also tests whether the country has been investing in the infrastructure, and it tests the leadership harmony with its community on the way the crisis been handled and controlled.

Thought that those countries had gone further and beyond the awareness stage by now with this virus. Notwithstanding that, this came to their countries so quickly, but I should imagine that this is seen in China since December 2019. They might have left it as it could be perceived regional in China. I say that as I can not imagine that their media today is still talking about the basics of how you deal with this virus, like how do you wash your hands!?

To be fair too that even today no one can tell what would be the right things that should have been done to-date or what needs to happen next! What happened to some countries was unfortunate, and I hope that the world gets over this and succeeds in containing this crisis soon and my sympathy to all that lost their family members as a result of this pandemic disease. We will all know in perhaps two years what we should have done to prevent this virus, and all of us will get lessons from handling unpredicted crisis though early signs suggested it is coming.

In Saudi, too early to judge because we are in the middle of the crisis like the rest of the world, fighting it. However, I had a feeling on our readiness considering this virus as a crisis and what has been implemented and when did we start with our mitigations and precautions.

Although we have not had similar severity to some countries, in my opinion, we seem to have gone beyond the basics and are implementing the mitigations that we had prepared for since it had started in China even before it was declared pandemic. Decedents are paid that we have been investing in the infrastructure, we have got professional people, and we seem to have made the right decisions. Undoubtedly, the interaction between all Saudi agencies has been well-integrated and homogeneous. In my opinion, we have reacted earlier on the early signs and taken this threat so seriously, compared with other countries. I would hope we could be thinking of mitigations ahead of the virus chaos itself while gaining knowledge as the issue gets further. We will not be able to conclude this battle, but there will be lessons on what we did or should be done when the world wins against this harsh virus.

This cannot be progressed without the right leadership behind it and the teamwork that supports it. I am amazed by the integration of the community from top to bottom, working together in a homogenized way. While we are in this battle, all government agencies and ministries are making their tangible contributions and managing the crisis exceptionally well. This is so visible and can be felt in the ground.

We are proud and grateful for what the King, his Crown Prince, and all government agencies are doing daily for the Kingdom against the virus crisis—amazed by rapid royal decrees and orders, precautions, and control of flow and clarity of process. Mindful of the ice beg below the service, and we see, daily, a smooth implementation in the ground straight away.

God bless KSA

Ahmad Al Salamah

Programme Director, BAE Systems