I am not sure, based on the experience so far, that there has been a correlation between the closure of borders and the spread of the virus. Nor is there any evidence that countries that closed their national borders have had lower rates of infection.

We got hold of Pr. Said Adejumobi, Director, Strategic Planning, Oversight and Results Division, UNECA, during the African Economic Conference (AEC2021), held in hybrid format from 2-4 December 2021, in Sal Island, Cabo Verde, under the theme “Financing Africa’s postCOVID-19 development”. We took the opportunity to get his perspectives on this global pandemic and on the recent decision of countries to shut their national borders to many African countries, including Mauritius. His take on the situation is refreshing…

Panic has been created around the new variant Omicron. How did we get to this situation where borders are suddenly shutting on South Africa and other African countries?

We need to see this virus as a global phenomenon. It is not a country-based disease. It is a global pandemic and a global pandemic requires a global reaction. It has a lot of challenges but it is an opportunity for us to see ourselves as a collective race in a collective battle against a collective enemy. I don’t think that seeing this as a country or regional problem will be helpful. So this whole idea of banning countries and shutting down borders is not a sensible approach. The virus doesn’t need a passport to travel. It moves seamlessly especially in the context of a globalised World.

Be that as it may, each country has the responsibility to protect its citizens in whatever way they can. From that point of view, isn’t it normal for countries to shut down their borders when they feel that their citizens are threatened?

I am not sure, based on the experience so far, that there has been no correlation between the closure of borders and the spread of the virus. Nor is there any evidence that countries that closed their national borders have had lower rates of infection. The jury is still out on that. What we have seen is that once the virus is seemingly brought under control, it mutates and reappears somewhere else in different forms, different shapes, different colours….

So what do we do?

I think the scientific approach is the only one that is likely to work. To address this problem in a very frontal and collective way is the only way. As soon as a variant appears somewhere, an immediate collective approach is called for. We need to follow it wherever it is, attack it wherever it is and contain it wherever it is. Experience has shown that no one is safe until everyone is safe.

So how do you react to France closing its borders to several African countries, including Mauritius?

Has the closure of borders stopped the rise of infections in Europe? Europe has one of the highest infection rates in the world. There are also more fatalities in Europe than in Africa. So what is the relationship between the closure of borders and the rise of the infection rates? I think the right approach is to pool our collective scientific knowledge together, using the information that South African scientists have provided. The world should have a rapid reaction scientific team ready so that wherever a variant raises its head, the team is deployed there immediately to look at the problem, to study it, take samples of it and attack it there and then. Even if you close national borders, the virus will appear somewhere else. It does not need a passport or a visa or anyone’s permission to fly. It will fly.

“The opportunity of this virus is to begin to build a new world because if there is a lesson that this virus has taught us, it is that our fate and future are inextricably linked together.”

As was the case for Omicron…

Exactly. They say it appeared in South Africa. But it is present in many other parts of the world. How did it get there? Consider also Delta and the speed at which it spread around the world even when many countries closed their borders to India. And it mutates in new environments. Don’t forget we are dealing with a virus. So we should rethink how to address a global pandemic.

How do we address it then?

We need to mobilise resources, human, material, medical and scientific to be able to address it together. The approach we have taken so far is one of fragmentation, balkanisation, bifurcation, which in a sense has created a lot of loopholes for the virus to manoeuvre and spread. If we have had a global response, a team would have been ready to attack the virus wherever and whenever it manifests itself. It would tame it wherever it appears. This is a global pandemic, not labelled after any particular country. The only approach we can adopt is that nobody is safe until everybody is safe. If we adopt that approach, we will be able to have the upper hand on the virus. There are political expediencies involved in the way it is addressed rather than a scientific approach. We must allow science to guide us in tackling this global pandemic.

Do you think that the reaction of the UK and some European countries is political?

Well, politicians have their own constituents to respond to. We need to acknowledge that. But I also think that collectively, we have a global responsibility. It’s ok for political leaders to respond to their own constituencies but there is another side of the pandemic, which we are not even addressing. We are taking a very nation-based approach and losing sight of the bigger picture. Take the example of Omicron. Say it was discovered – just discovered as it could have come from anywhere – in Southern Africa and there was a rapid team deployed to the place, backed up with the required scientific knowledge of how to address it and to support the national efforts there and contain the virus there and then, preventing it from spreading, we would have moved on it very quickly.

But don’t you think national borders should have been closed at least temporarily?

Even if even we had to close borders, say, for two or three weeks as a temporary measure, it must be part of a bigger plan and in consultation with countries. It should not be perceived as a punishment. It should be a temporary measure.

It is temporary now, isn’t it?

I think there must be an understanding and countries need to discuss it. If I need to close my borders, I need to discuss it with the countries that are involved and say ‘look this is why we are taking this decision and we need to work together on this’. What is needed is to have a global view and articulate the responses to it in a global dimension. We should allow science to drive policy on this pandemic.

Some prominent African personalities have accused the world of xenophobia after the closure of borders. Do you share the view that there is an element of xenophobia in the world’s drastic reaction to Omicron?

I wouldn’t go that route. What I would say is that a national response was taken instead of a global one. That’s the way I want to understand it. Even some African countries decided to impose a ban at some point in time.

“The world should have a rapid reaction scientific team ready, so that wherever a new variant of the virus or any other virus for that matter rears its head, the team is deployed there immediately to look at the problem, to study it, take samples of it and attack it there and then.”

Did that hurt more? Seeing African countries shutting out other African countries?

Again, I wouldn’t go that direction. The direction I would like to go is that it is best for all parties to have a global perspective of the global dynamics of this problem to be able to address it. This should not be interpreted in different ways by different people. The opportunity of this virus is to begin to build a new world because if there is a lesson that this virus has taught us, it is that our fate and future are inextricably linked together. We are a common human race. This virus doesn’t respect wealth, power, social status or national borders. It respects nothing. It is a leveler. So we need to see our response to it in a different way. Panic and fear have driven policy in many cases. There has been little reflection as to how to address this issue.

Was our reaction to the virus predictable?

Yes. We have reverted to old habits, old patterns and old dynamics of power relations and we are missing an opportunity to reinvent and recreate the world in a new mold. And that is the lesson that the virus has taught us. Unfortunately, we are not thinking about those lessons.

How is Africa faring in general?

In terms of the number of infections and fatalities, compared to the rest of the world, this pandemic hasn’t been terrible for Africa. We need to acknowledge that. You must give credit to many governments of the African Continent for one thing: in spite of the limited resources, the level of preparedness has been high. A number of countries res- ponded very swiftly, very smartly and they had plans in terms of how to address the problem. We should also credit the collective efforts of the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, the African EXIM Bank, UNICEF and also the UNDP for their response in supporting African countries in terms of preparedness plans and access to vaccines. So I think, in that respect, Africa has done well. The challenges for Africa are in the socio-economic realm. Because of limited resources and capacity, addressing the socio-economic fallout of Covid-19 has been quite challenging for us in terms of increased poverty rate. The fact that people could not go on about their normal business and the lockdowns etc. affected many livelihoods, particularly in the informal sector, which is very large in many African countries. A lot of people in this sector lost their jobs, got displaced and the level of poverty intensified significantly. An estimate of 32 million people were pushed into poverty in 2020. That figure is estimated to increase by another 9 million in 2021. Also the economy in Africa contracted by 3.5 to 5%, which is terrible! I think it is at those levels that the problem is. This takes us back to the collective approach that should be adopted because poverty anywhere is a threat to good living everywhere in the world. So I think we need to do things differently and collectively.

What about access to medication and vaccines?

There is a lopsided imbalance in terms of access to medicines and vaccines. Those who are willing to use the vaccines don’t have them and those who are reluctant to use them and are fighting for the right not to use them have them. That’s the paradox of access to vaccines today.

Can’t Africa produce its own vaccines?

Allowing Africa to produce a generic version of vaccines and drugs was lost on all of us. It was discussed in the appropriate quarters and at various levels and then the idea was rejected.

What was the reason given?

The argument was that it would kill innovation. That those who invested their resources in developing vaccines would not have return on their investment. But what comes first? Profit or human lives and human survival?

What is the situation today? My understanding is that some vaccines are being produced in some African countries like South Africa…

Yes, but they are produced by the same companies in some local jurisdictions.

Is the price of the vaccines produced on the Continent more accessible?

I am not sure. But this is a global emergency. We therefore need to do things differently and open up access to vaccines. Every human being on this earth should have access to vaccination. It should not be something that drains the resources of countries. If countries have to use their limited resources to buy vaccines, how will they feed their people? We should go beyond help into empowering countries properly so they can respond adequately in containing this virus. This could be done at the regional or global level but it has to be done in a collective way. As I said, there are many lessons we should have learnt from this pandemic, the main one being that the virus will not stay within the borders of those countries that can’t afford vaccines and medication. How we use those lessons is very important in the new world I would like to see.