Mar

kAnt
honyR.Nat
ivi
dad

BSE3-
A

Asecondwav
eofcor
onav
irusmayf
orcer
enewedl
ockdowns

Atthebeginni
ngoft heCovi
d-19pandemi c,manycountr
iesenf
orcedl
ockdownsandsocial
di
stanci
ngmeasur estohaltthespreadoft hecoronavir
us.Ascasenumberswanedandt he
l
ockdownsl i
ft
ed,manypeopl ebeli
evedthatthewor sthadpassedandbeganmeetingot
hers
soci
all
yagain.Unf or
tunat
ely
,theseat t
empt sto enjoywhatremained ofthesummerhad
negati
veconsequences.

Allov erthewor l
d, ev eni ncount r
iesthatseemedt obehandl ingt hecaseswel l,thenumber
ofactiveCov i
d-19i nfect i
onsi srisi
ng.Canada,whi chwasdownt olowdoubl edigit
si nitsdai l
y
newi nfectionsatonepoi nt,isnowbackt oabout3, 000newi nfect i
onsperday .Evenint heEU,
whichhadast r
ongf i
r str esponset ot hepandemi c,hasseent henumberofcasesr i
set ot he
l
ow hundr edsoft housandssi ncet hebegi nningofOctober .Thisnew wav ei spar t
ial
lyduet o
poli
cysof t eni
ngunderpr essur ef r
om theeconomy .Ther et
ail
,restaur ant,andser vicesect or s
wereheav ilyimpact edbyt hel ockdowns.Assuch,gov er nmentshadt opayl argeamount sof
moneyt okeept heircount r
y’seconomyaf loat
.Becauseoft his,gov ernment swer est rongl y
i
ncent i
visedt oeaset hel ockdownst orestarttheeconomy .Howev er,thisnewwav eofCov id-19
caseswi l
lendupcost ingmor eint helongt erm.Thenewwav eofcasesi salsoduet opeopl e
notfullyrespect i
ngt hev irul
enceoft hev ir
usandi gnoringt henecessi tyofsoci aldistanci ng.
There hav e been mul ti
plei nstances ofpeopl e making news f orhol ding lar
ge in-per son
gatheri
ngst hatareei thernotr ecommendedorout ri
ghti
llegal.

New Zealand,Singapore,andChinaar egoodexampl esofhow pr opermeasur escan

combatt hespr eadofCov i
d-19.I
fcountriescanenf or
ceanear -
totallockdownwher ethe
populati
onhasv eryl
i
ttl
emov ementandint erpersonalcontactforsev er
alweeks,ormont hs,
thent hecountr
ycanr eturntonormalrelat i
velyquickly
.Forexampl e,dail
yl i
fehasalmost
retur
nedt opr
e-pandemi clevel
sinSi
ngapore,andpeopl eareall
owedt owal kthestreet
sagain,
alt
hought hemaxi mum numberofpeoplewhocanbei nagr ouptogetherissti
llsmal
l.

Itisnow clearthatmanycount r
ieshavef ail
edtot aket horoughenoughmeasur est o
combatt hi
spandemi c,orhaveut i
li
sedshort-
sightedplansatt heexpenseofl ong-
term case
reducti
ons.Whil
eshor t-t
erm plansaimedathel pingtheeconomybyl if
ti
nglockdownsmay
seem li
keagoodi dea,thi
swillbedetri
mentali
nt helongterm asmor epeopl
eareinfect
edand
die,ul
ti
matelyl
eavingtheeconomyi nawor sestate.Countr
ieshav etorall
ynowandcommi tto
alongroundoflockdownssot hatwecanretur
nt oapost -
coronavir
uswor l
dsooner,r
atherthan
l
at er
.