A few questions come to the fore again with several countries in the world imposing national or local-level lockdowns.
Several countries are reporting cases that match the peak season figures last time, and that too despite mass vaccination campaigns and health guidelines introduced such as wearing of masks and social distancing.
World Health Organization (WHO) has reportedly said that large-scale physical distancing measures and movement restrictions often referred to as ‘lockdowns’, can slow Covid‑19 transmission by limiting contact between people.
The business community in Oman that the Observer spoke to admitted that lockdowns and ban on movements are desperate measures by the government.
“Despite various packages announced by the government over the last few years, it is still difficult for businesses like mine to survive with restrictions. Our restaurants have been getting a good number of online orders. Still, it is not a suitable alternative to dine-in services. We were hoping the situation to get better this year, but that is not the case so far’’, said a co-owner of a restaurant chain with multiple branches in the capital.
Both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Investment Promotion have repeatedly said that the lockdowns will significantly impact the economy.
“There is a limit that government can continue to offer relief packages to the businesses and individuals when its revenue sources have been hit. The only solution is to start mass vaccination and make people follow the safety guidelines as much as possible’’, said a gym operator, whose business has been affected by repeated restrictions and lockdowns.
It may be noted that even small coffee and tea shops and mobile restaurants are the worst affected as they depend on daily income, generated during peak business hours at night.
“We have to shut down shops by 8 pm and our peak hours are between 9 and 11 pm. It isn’t easy to sustain the business for circumstances. I hope that lockdowns become a part of the history in the coming months’’, said Mustafa, who runs a mobile café in Al Hail.
“However, these measures can have a profound negative impact on individuals, communities and societies by bringing social and economic life to a near stop. Such measures affect disadvantaged groups, including people in poverty, migrants, internally displaced people and refugees, who most often live in overcrowded and under-resourced settings, and depend on daily labour for subsistence.
WHO admits that at certain points, some countries have no choice but to issue stay-at-home orders and other measures, to buy time.
Lockdowns give extra time for authorities to build their capacities to detect, isolate, test and care for all cases; trace and quarantine all contacts.
As for the dependence on vaccines and herd community WHO says that the percentage of people who need to be immune to achieve herd immunity varies with each disease.
“Herd immunity against measles requires about 95 per cent of a population to be vaccinated, while the remaining five per cent will be protected by the fact that measles will not
spread among those who are vaccinated. For polio, the threshold is about 80 per cent. The proportion of the population that must be vaccinated against Covid-19 to begin inducing herd immunity is not known.”
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