THE CORONAVIRUS: IF IT WERE THE CHINESE?

ICHEOKU says if the roles were reversed and the Coronavirus was an American affliction, would China not have since placed a ban on flights originating from America into China. But why the health authorities in America as well as the government in the White House have chosen to do nothing so far in that regards, is but anyone's guess. You can blame it on economic considerations and the need not to panic the flying public which will cause disruptions in world economic activities. 

Recall the speed with which the government in Beijing grounded all Boeing 737 Max airplanes following the second crash in Ethiopia. They did not even consider any of these factors when they summarily grounded the planes, just to protect the flying Chinese public. It led to a world wide hysteria about the safety of the airplanes which precipitated their world wide grounding. America was forced to order them out of the skies to the ground where they have remained since then and for nearly one year now. Whether they will ever fly again is debatable because it will take much to regain the confidence of the flying public that the planes are safe for them to fly on them again, if ever. 

The correlation being that for the Chinese government, the safety of their Chinese citizens is paramount; it comes first and trumps every other considerations in formulating their policies, including the general world economy. They did not hedge their bets nor gave room for further observations and consultations, they just acted; begging the question would the Chinese government have allowed the continuing operations of flights into China from America were America the hotbed of the Coronavirus? 

ICHEOKU says would argue for an immediate but temporary suspension of all flights from Wuhan and surrounding cities into America, until a determination is made about the virility and lethality of the Coronavirus, because prevention is always better than cure. It is good enough China has quarantined the province and there is no more originating flights in and out of Wuhan; a good proactive measure which will help contain the spread of the virus. The other good development is that they have also authorized World Health Organization to step in to help resolve the matter. Hopefully, together they will get to the bottom of the virus, find a vaccine and other ways to contain it and treat victims and save the world from a threatening catastrophic event. 

ICHEOKU says hopes too that Chinese government will be truthful and very open about the virus and not be their usual secretive self; otherwise it might turn into a scourge of humanity. May the world quickly find solution to the threatening killer virus and save us all from an assured mass death, in an inter connected world of today where people freely mingle with one another, with only few flying hours separating societies. It is such that anything which happens somewhere, so easily impacts the next place; the reason the Wuhan born Coronavirus is now a virus of global mass spreading. Sadly, human vectors are passing the virus to each other and in a sad way, with love (hate) from Wuhan.