The world has a population of nearly 7.8 billion people.
And about 12.8% of them are confined to their own homes because of Covid-19.
The Worsening Covid-19 Situation
The United States and Europe, among many other countries, are facing devastating Covid-19 onslaughts on a daily basis.
Italy now has the highest number of deaths from the coronavirus, even higher than China.
Spain also saw its death toll soar by 32% within the span of a day.
Meanwhile, China, which has the most number of Covid-19 cases and deaths earlier on during the Covid-19 outbreak, is now reporting zero new Covid-19 cases for the third day in a row.
Which is probably why it’s now a role model when it comes to fighting this insidious enemy.
Almost 1 Billion People Confined To Their Homes
When the Hubei province first reported cases of Covid-19, the Chinese government took no chances and closed off the region.
As the situation got worse, they went even further and ordered a lockdown of entire cities.
Seeing as how a lockdown (or what is also known as social distancing measures) seems to work, countries around the world are now emulating China.
Pretty cool considering that if you flashback to ten years ago, China was the one doing the copying. Albeit they did it really, really well.
According to an AFP tally, nearly 1 billion people are now confined to their homes in 35 countries around the world.
This figure includes 600 million who are confined based on obligatory government lockdown orders.
In Europe, Italy has put into place a lockdown that will last until 3 Apr 2020. During this period, only essential services like production services “deemed necessary for national production” will be allowed to continue.
Spain and France had also followed in Italy’s footsteps and ordered residents to stay at home.
Other countries include Malaysia, Belgium, Ireland and several states in the United States like Illinois, New Jersey and New York.
Will Last Months, Not Weeks
Now, if you’re thinking such drastic measures will last just a couple of weeks, think again.
New York governor said that the Covid-19 threat is expected to last months and not weeks.
Even in Singapore, PM Lee in his iconic pink shirt has told Singaporeans that the Covid-19 situation could last for quite some time. “Maybe a year or longer”.
In other words, don’t expect this to be a sprint and go back to normal once everything is over.
It’s going to be a full marathon.
Which is why we shouldn’t be thinking of this as a temporary situation that will go away by June 2020, just in time for ICT.
Embrace it as the new norm instead so that when things all come back to normal? Everything extra will be our performance bonus that most of us are missing out on right now.
By the way, if you heard that Singapore is going into lockdown, it’s fake news. But I’m pretty sure you know that by now, right? Right?!
If you’re not sure about what I’m talking about, check out what the fake news about PM Lee speech and lockdown is all about here.
Though just for your info, our borders are now closed.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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