Unusual tactics to fight Covid-19 from around the world
By Emma Reynolds, CNN
April 21, 2020
(CNN)Daily life around the world is changing dramatically as countries and local governments employ different methods to contain the spread of the coronavirus -- while allowing society to keep functioning in some form.
Many nations are testing new techniques to help ease restrictions without causing a second wave of infection, while others are trying radical strategies to stop their case numbers from climbing. These are some of the more unusual tactics:
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, speaks to students sitting two meters away from each other during the reopening of Lykkebo School in Copenhagen.
Classrooms 2.0
For many countries, schools will need to reopen first, enabling parents to return to work and children to resume their education on an equal footing.
Denmark is showing how that can be done, starting with students aged under 12. Schoolyards have been split into sections with tape and classes are smaller so that desks can be placed two meters apart. Children arrive and take breaks at staggered intervals, wash their hands on arrival and every two hours and remain outside as much as possible. Surfaces including sinks, toilet seats and door handles are disinfected twice daily.
The Czech Republic has also begun a phased return starting with final-year students at college and universities, which is likely to be followed by primary school children, and high school students for one-on-one consultations.
A person wearing a protective mask pushes a grocery cart through a decontamination chamber at the La Vega Central fruit and vegetable market in Santiago, Chile.
Immunity cards
Chile will begin issuing digital immunity cards this week to people who have recovered from the coronavirus, according to a Monday announcement from health officials. The so-called "Covid cards" will be issued to people who tested positive for the virus and who have shown signs of recovery, following a 14-day quarantine.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said earlier this month that the UK was "looking at" the idea of an "immunity certificate," or passport, to allow those who have antibodies to "get as much as possible back to normal life."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US, said the idea of Americans carrying certificates of immunity to prove they have tested positive for the antibodies to the coronavirus might "have some merit under certain circumstances."
A man with his bike surrounded by pigeons in a nearly empty Yenicami Square, at the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, during the weekend lockdown.
Weekend-only lockdowns
Turkey has enforced weekend-only lockdowns -- 48-hour curfews affecting three-quarters of the population in 31 provinces.
During the week, the stay-at-home order only applies to those under the age of 20 or over 65. All other citizens are in theory allowed to go out, although many small businesses are closed, restaurants are open for delivery or pick-up only, public places like parks are off limits, and banks have limited hours.
The Navajo Nation in Arizona has also enacted strict weekend lockdowns during which members cannot leave their homes.
In Libya, members of the public are only "permitted to walk" between the hours of 7am and 12pm and stores are only opened during these hours.
Swedish authorities have advised the public to practice social distancing and asked those over 70 to stay at home, but still allow a large amount of personal freedom.
Age-specific restrictions
Turkey isn't the only country that has decided to restrict movement by age. In Sweden, those aged 70 and over have been asked to stay at home. Earlier this month, researchers from Warwick University in the UK proposed that young adults aged 20-30 who do not live with parents should be released from lockdown first.
Women wait in line to enter a grocery store, on a day that men must stay indoors in Panama City after the authorities assigned men and women three different days a week on which they can leave home for essential business.
Gender-based lockdowns
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announced on April 2 that it was adopting a gender-based measure because of its simplicity in visually detecting who should and shouldn't be out on the streets. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, only men can be outside; on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, only women are allowed.
Panama has been doing this since April 1, arguing the measure encourages people to stay at home since their loved-ones are not allowed to be outside. Some cities in Colombia, including its capital Bogota, are also only allowing men and women to leave the house on alternate days.
Police officers wearing colorful face masks in Cali, Colombia on March 20 as preventative measures began.
Luck of the draw
Some parts of Colombia have also implemented additional measures. Cities including Cali and Medellin only permit citizens to leave their homes at certain times depending on their ID card numbers. This does not affect essential workers.
A police officer pilots a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise drone with a thermal sensor for checking people's temperature on April 9 in Treviolo, near Bergamo, Italy.
Under their eye
Several countries have used drones to monitor locked-down citizens. Italy's National Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) authorized the use of drones to monitor the movements of citizens back in March. Not long after the UK announced lockdown measures in late March, one police force posted a video of drone footage showing people walking through Derbyshire's Peak District National Park, amid growing concern around draconian tactics from the authorities.
Commercial drone company Draganfly this month partnered with Australia's Department of Defense and the University of South Australia to deploy "pandemic drones" to "monitor temperature, heart and respiratory rates, as well as detect people sneezing and coughing in crowds."
China and Kuwait have used "talking drones" to order people to return home.
CNNE's Cristopher Ulloa and CNN's Stefano Pozzebon, Ana Cucalon, Jackie Castillo contributed reporting.
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The disease stands poised to cause a far-reaching economic depression and a tragically high number of deaths. Its impact will be felt in every corner of the world. To combat this historic threat, leaders must urgently put aside narrow nationalism and short-term, selfish considerations to work together in the common interest of all humanity.
As a former Secretary-General of the U.N., I support the call from my successor António Guterres for an additional $2 billion in humanitarian aid to tackle the pandemic. This aid—which will contribute to key efforts such as developing and distributing tests, treatments and vaccines—is essential to reducing the virus’s spread.
I also urge global leaders, led by the U.N., to consider how to develop a global governance system that can cope more effectively with any pandemics that may occur in the future. They should recommit to the values of the U.N. Charter, and use other multi-lateral bodies—including the G-20, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank—to proactively support the world’s most vulnerable populations.
It is encouraging that G-20 leaders last month committed to implementing any necessary measures to stop the spread of the virus and to injecting $5 trillion into the global economy. But these commitments need to be translated into immediate, proactive assistance to vulnerable countries in Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Further, to ensure an effective recovery, this cooperation will need to be strengthened and sustained for some time. It is also crucial that border restrictions and closures, as well as pre-existing sanctions for countries like Iran, which have been severely affected by the pandemic, do not prevent critical medical equipment and supplies from being transported to where they are most urgently needed.
COVID-19 shines a harsh light on the many profound inequalities that scar our planet. Disparities of wealth between and within countries now risk being exacerbated even further by the pandemic.
Keep up to date on the growing threat to global health by signing up for our daily coronavirus newsletter.
Similarly, the constraints many countries have imposed on movement and assembly are understandable and necessary under the current circumstances, but legislators and judiciaries must bear in mind that, if not carefully instituted, these restrictions risk accentuating the marginalization of vulnerable groups such as refugees, migrants and racial minorities.
Respect for human rights, solidarity and justice need to be at the heart of our response to COVID-19. We all have a responsibility as global citizens to stay vigilant and not allow authoritarian regimes to exploit the crisis to roll back rights and democratic safeguards. Otherwise, we risk the prospect of a future where rich countries have recovered and reinstate “normal” patterns of social and economic interaction, but poorer states remain ravaged, with their citizens excluded and subject to new forms of discrimination.
Even before COVID-19 took hold, we were confronted by the existential threats of climate change and nuclear weapons. In January, I attended the unveiling of the “Doomsday Clock” in Washington, D.C., when the clock’s minute hand was moved closer to midnight than ever before.
The clock is still ticking, and these threats have been further aggravated since the outbreak of COVID-19. But if the world can show the necessary courage and leadership today, we will be better placed to tackle equally grave challenges tomorrow.
Ban is the deputy chair of the Elders, an independent group of global leaders, and served as Secretary-General of the U.N. from 2007 to 2016
This article is part of a special series on how the coronavirus is changing our lives, with insights and advice from the TIME 100 community. Want more? Sign up for access to TIME 100 Talks, our virtual event series, featuring live conversations with influential newsmakers.
