No one is safe from the coronavirus until all are safe. That’s why Europe and China must help Africa

After the US defunded the WHO, the European Investment Bank has stepped up to help Africa

Africa is strategically important to China, and Beijing must realise that times like these require trade-offs between its national goals and the global good

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A boy wearing a mask carries a bowl of githeri, a meal of beans and maize, as he walks past a mural warning of the coronavirus in Mathare, a cluster of slums in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: AP

Published: 1:00am, 13 May 2020Updated: 5:40am, 13 May 2020

The worst is not behind us; it is “yet ahead of us”, the World Health Organisation has warned. Back when the rest of the world watched the horror in Wuhan from a distance, few could have imagined that Italy and Spain would one day be worse affected by the coronavirus.

Back then, the United States looked towards the Pacific with a false sense of security after restricting travel to and from China, when the real danger of contagion was lurking in Europe, on the other side of the Atlantic. However, for all the deaths and economic pain endured in these advanced economies, the world hasn’t seen anything yet.

If and when the pandemic hits the poorest and most vulnerable, up to 190,000 in Africa – more than twice the US death toll – might die from Covid-19 in the next 12 months, according to the WHO. Social distancing is difficult in crowded slums. Many do not have running water to wash their hands. Lockdowns will deprive people of livelihoods.

Even nations like Singapore and South Korea, which were most successful in fighting early outbreaks, are now struggling with second waves of the coronavirus. In East Asia, the new cases have largely been imported from the US and Europe. The US has been hit hard partly because it is fighting the pandemic on two fronts – the Pacific and the Atlantic – at the same time.

Europe will face new waves from all directions: from within, from across the Atlantic and from the Middle East and Africa. Europe can’t escape its proximity to Africa and the Middle East, which are among the regions most vulnerable to Covid-19. Europeans should help their neighbours, not for humanitarian reasons but for self-preservation. No one will be safe from Covid-19 until all are safe.

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European countries have shown little camaraderie in their responses to Covid-19. Nor have they, with the exception of Germany and a few others, shown foresight. It will be a great challenge for Europe to manage its own recovery and help others at the same time.