• 20:38
  • Wednesday ,29 April 2020
العربية

Egypt and the herd immunity

Article Of The Day

00:04

Wednesday ,29 April 2020

Egypt and the herd immunity

Corona virus that appeared in China last year and infected more than two and a half million people so far. On the other hand, few countries decided to try the collective immunity or what is known as the herd immunity.

There is a debate about the morality of such policy, but in Egypt we are heading to the same policy after reducing the number of hours of the curfew. It is worth mentioning that a decent number of citizens are not abiding by the curfew especially in public areas and streets. The increasing number of infected people and the death tolls proves such negligence. 
 
The herd immunity policy means to allow people to go to public places and interact with each other, without closing shops, parks and beaches. The authorities allow infection to spread on a certain scale, and the goal of this strategy is for people to become infected and recover until they acquire self-immunity, especially since the virus is not very lethal, and even a large percentage of infected people do not feel any symptoms, and in parallel, the authorities take measures to protect the groups most vulnerable to infection with corona virus and its complications such as the elderly and those who suffer from chronic diseases. 
 
Those who defend the herd immunity say that measures of Social distancing is not a practical solution to combat the epidemic even if it leads to the decline of the virus, and the reason is that this closure destroy economy and make more people suffer. Moreover, the virus may return again, if the restrictions are eased, and that is what happened in Singapore, where a second outbreak was registered. On the other hand, Sweden presents itself as a successful model for the application of herd immunity, and about 20 percent of the population of Stockholm have acquired immunity against the Corona virus.