30 Jul 2020

Coronavirus infection rates are soaring in southern Africa on a daily basis and the region is racing  against time to bring the situation under control.

The rapid spread of the virus  has created a sense  of  urgency  in  the  region  prompting calls  for a coordinated response.

 As pressure mounts, industries are moving swiftly to build resilience while governments are mobilising to protect citizens and manage the social and economic fallout.

SADC communication and public relations officer, Ms Barbara Lopi revealed in an interview that SADC member states had united to consider policy interventions and recommendations to keep economies afloat in the face of the worst global economic downturn.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is far more than a health crisis: it is affecting societies and econ­omies at their core. While the impact of the pandemic will vary from country to country, it will most likely increase poverty and inequalities at a regional scale, making achievement of SDGs even more urgent,” she said.

Ms Lopi said SADC member states were working together to reinforce national health-care systems and contain the spread of the virus while also taking action to mitigate the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and support recovery.

Though the real impact was yet to be ascertained, Ms Lopi said the pandemic’s effects cut across many aspects of the socio-economic sphere, resulting into diverse and complex challenges. 

“There has been an increase in unplanned expenditures in the health sector in many of the SADC member states. The region has also witnessed disruption of supply chains and demand side shocks, which significantly affected the commodity prices and resulted in weak foreign exchange,” she said.

Ms Lopi said preliminary analysis of the COVID-19 impact showed that, as of December 2019 while some member states had made commendable improvements in their fiscal positions, a majority were already grappling to manage increasing public debt, which was on the brink of reaching the regional threshold of 60 per cent of GDP. 

Quoting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Fiscal Monitor released in April, she said the COVID-19 outbreak and its financial as well as economic consequences would cause a major increase in fiscal deficits and public debt load this year.

It  was also important to note, she said, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, a record 45 million people were already estimated to be food insecure in the SADC region as a result of climatic shocks, such as drought and flooding as well as structural macro-economic and social factors. 

The COVID-19 outbreak and its debilitating impacts on livelihoods, had exacerbated the situation, eroding community coping capacities and deepening food and nutrition insecurity of vulnerable households and individuals, she said.

Furthermore, Ms Lopi said it was likely that the number of vulnerable people would increase due to, among others, loss of informal sources of income due to the pandemic, particularly lockdown and movement restrictions.

The pandemic had affected movement of essential goods and services across the region as more than 80 per cent of imported and exported goods regionally were transported through the road network, she noted. 

She admitted that COVID-19 related lockdowns in member states and associated public health measures resulted in significant delays in the movement of hauling vehicles and subsequently in the delivery of essential supplies. 

In order to ensure uninterrupted movement of goods and services, Ms Lopi said SADC member states had adopted guidelines on harmonization and facilitation of cross border transport operation across the region during the pandemic. 

“The guidelines were designed to facilitate and ease the process of transporting essential goods and services within the region during the COVID-19 pandemic, while ensuring containment of the virus. In adopting these guidelines, member states also created the National Transport and Trade Facilitation Committee to coordinate the implementation of the guidelines, and resolve operational issues at borders or road blocks,” she said.

She said there had been significant improvement in facilitating movement of essential goods since the adoption of the guidelines as member states aligned their national laws and procedures to the regional recommendations.

As a preventive measure, Ms Lopi stated that SADC convened an extraordinary meeting of the organisation’s health ministers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where knowledge and information on the pandemic was shared while member states were urged to put in place national preparedness and response plans.

She said member states had also moved swiftly to put in place measures that included restrictions to in-country and cross border movement of people.

The measures were accompanied by increased testing and quarantine requirements, said Ms Lopi. 

She said the SADC technical committee for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Health continued to conduct assessment and advising the region on health, social, economic and immigration matters, guided by WHO guidelines. 

On a positive note, Ms Lopi said  the COVID-19 pandemic had presented opportunities in the ICT industry because of increased uptake of virtual communication technologies as people now worked from home. Ends