Coronavirus: Here's how various countries are imposing lockdowns and enforcing self-isolation to tackle pandemic
Authorities around the world are urging people to self-isolate themselves amid the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak began at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China, and since then, it has spread across the world causing several countries to go under lockdown.
At the time of writing this article, there are 219,345 cases around the world reported who have tested positive for the new coronavirus. A total of 8,969 people have died and 85,745 people have recovered, according to live updates report.
As the numbers rise day by day, authorities around the world have imposed lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus. Countries including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Australia and others have imposed self-isolation and lockdown under these circumstances.
Many have shut restaurants, bars, schools and places where there are huge gatherings after a ban was imposed on mass gatherings. Here's how some countries have dealt with the crisis:
China
China, where the epidemic began, was under lockdown since early January. Chinese authorities took strict measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Flights were suspended across China, roads were blocked, schools were shut down and people were asked to have minimal movement outside only to venture for medical help and food.
Authorities were quick on their feet, quarantining people who were affected, in fact, the Chinese medical team worked hard day and night to bring down the numbers of people affected.
There were 80,928 reported cases of coronavirus with 3245 reported deaths. Though it has the most cases of people who tested positive, it also has the highest recovery cases reaching about 70,525 proving the positive of self-isolating and quarantine leading many countries to do the same.
US
The United States announced new guidelines asking all Americans to avoid social gatherings and groups of more than 10 people, not just in bars and restaurants, but also at home. Authorities are still not considering a complete lockdown even when they have 9,464 cases that tested positive, 155 deaths and only 108 have recovered so far.
American authorities are closing down the border with Canada, introducing strict plans to ban flights in or out to the Europian countries, UK and Ireland. These drastic measures were taken to try and control the spread of the virus from international to domestic.
The spring breaks have been canceled leaving the beaches in Florida empty and fined if found on the beach, the streets of the busiest place in New York, the time square is vacant depicting the dire situation the citizens are facing.
Italy
Some countries in Europe have announced a complete lockdown to avoid the further spread of the virus. Initially, the first lockdown was announced in February causing few of the cities to lock down but earlier this month, Italy prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced the imposition of a nationwide quarantine.
After China, Italy has the most cases of the virus and also there was a sudden spike in the number of people who passed away. There are 35,713 cases of people testing positive, with 2,978 deaths and 4,025 recoveries.
Authorities have urged people to only go out if it is absolutely necessary except for necessity, work, and health circumstances. Schools have been closed, flights have been banned and canceled, affecting the Italian economy terribly but they have no choice but to lockdown.
With morale low among people, earlier this month the Italians sang their hearts out from the streets trying to spread joy during a hard time of being quarantined.
Spain
Following Italy, Spain has announced a serious lockdown and a state of emergency. It is the fourth worst-affected country to be hit by the pandemic with about 14,769 cases tested positive and the death toll reaching 638 with only 1,081 cases of recovery.
Spanish authorities imposed an "Italian style" lockdown, allowing Spaniards to only leave the house to get medicines, for emergencies or to buy food. Schools are shut down, most workplaces have announced work from home and restaurants, bars, cafes and religious places have been strictly asked to shut down.
UK
The United Kingdom has imposed a few rules while the number of people being tested positive has spiked to 2626, resulting in the total number of deaths to 104 with only 65 recovery cases.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson informed, "The more closely, the more strictly, the more ruthlessly we can enforce upon ourselves, our families, the advice we are getting about avoiding unnecessary gatherings about staying at home when we have symptoms, then the better we will be able to protect the NHS, the fewer deaths we will have and the less suffering there will be in the UK population, and the faster we will get through this."
Authorities are advising people to work from home, avoid social gatherings and start social distancing for the safety of oneself and others.
As the number of cases increases across the world, people are getting restless being quarantined and with social distancing putting them under lockdown where they are unable to do anything.
This has created panic among people and why not? Being quarantined or self-isolating under these circumstances can create a lot of anxiety, stress, depression, etc. Any "isolation is so devastating to our own mood because we're left stuck with our own thoughts," said Emily Roberts, a Manhattan-based psychotherapist.
"It's unclear from one day to the next what any local community is going to do in response to the coronavirus if people are going to have to stay at home, which then has implications on how we work on caring for them," informed Lynn Bufka, associate executive director for research and policy for the American Psychological Association.
Every little bit can help if taken with proper precautions. A person can still go out, take a walk around, get some vitamin D but of course keeping in mind a few details such as keeping a safe distance from other people, sanitizing and disinfecting regularly and wearing protective gear such as masks.