Globally, all eyes have been directed to the novel coronavirus outbreak, marked as pandemic disease. A total of 188 countries and territories have been infected by the virus, and till today, no vaccine has been developed.
Among all, Iraqi Kurdistan Region is in a middle of a great challenge. A region part of Iraq with 5 million in population, having approximately 475 miles’ border mainland with Iran with frequent visits back and forth. Iran has over 20,000 infection cases.
As of March 22, Kurdistan Region has just 54 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, and only one death. All surroundings countries with same population or less, with robust health system have more cases than the region, despite having less frequent direct contact with a contagious country (Iran). What is Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is doing right? Is it a miracle or luck or rather
...a quick action?
Kurdish government has been through a series of different crises from wars to displacements and sanctions in the last 29 years, except epidemic disease outbreak. The past calamities enabled the government to take every single crisis seriously. More importantly, the public’s awareness for the containment of the crises is highly responsive.
KRG immediately set up an operation center to combat the coronavirus from the first day before having any cases. There is a strong media room and data analysis hub where all information come from different cities to be analyzed and published. KRG felt the worries of the outbreak when the first case announced early this month.
The key was in taking an overreact strategy rather than underreact. Avoiding public panic were essential, government very quickly began hosting press conferences on daily bases, sometimes
several per day, they would tell people that the Ministry of Health has identified one case and then identified a second case, and they were all travelers from Iran.
Despite Kurdistan, is a federal Region part of Iraq, cases are increasing vigorously in Iraq, due to the lack of government control and weak public awareness. KRG real transparency rather than the authoritarian steak, through comprehensive testing, quick quarantine and isolation of suspected cases are key parameter to overcome such a crisis.
All the world countries witnessed piling into stores in panic buying and hoarding, fights over parking space and food, but the Region managed that subject in time, by ensuring that the supply chain continues and the public didn’t take the panic, therefore, the supermarkets are full of supplies without any hurdles.
Always critics point out negativity when emerge, positive achievements are undermined. KRG efforts to contain the outbreak is outstanding combining authoritarian responses based on control and coercion, with having a good public health awareness program.
Kept people vigilant, and don’t panic through a vital government communications channels, like TVs, regular press conferences by ministers, health officials, police and the Prime Minister himself, marathoning between the cities to calm people with honesty and transparency; conveying the messages with competence and showed people that they care. The facts speak for themselves.
KRG never had experiences in managing epidemic SARS virus outbreaks or others like Tawian, Singapore and Hong Kong back in 2003. Today, the world talks about their success stories, and the lessons to be learned. But the Kurdish Region with limited financial, technological, and health capabilities, has contained the spread of the virus, and the measures have been widely
praised by WHO.
Key to their success so far has been the decision to respond aggressively from the outset. The forced curfew just in time before the start of Newroz Celebrations (Kurdish New Year), was essential of locking down people home and preventing them to socialize and gather. Governments should quickly gauge types of crisis, this no joke where others considered.
Simply, because of the curfew, I am also locked at home with my family since the 13th of March, ordering all home supplies and groceries via deliveries provided by the local supermarkets. Talked to my neighbor Mr. Namiq who is a public servant, boringly said “Public daily routine has gotten complicated. Locked down home, involving sanitizing, washing hands. We venture outside only for necessity.
It is really annoying, and don’t know till when it will last. But our health is the most important thing”. The public has disdain from being locked home, but that is what limits the spread of such an epidemic virus. Marco Rossi is an Italian expat living in Erbil stated, “I decided to stay in Erbil because I saw the well-educated cosmopolitan and knowledgeable western world has lost its mind, as the panic made the health risk contagious, staying in Erbil is better, calm and safer.”
I believe that the world should be very careful to praise China as a good example of addressing the Coronavirus outbreak, because 1.4 Billion people in China asks what went wrong in the first place to let such a mysterious coronavirus outbreaks and kills thousands. The simple answer would be the layers of bureaucracy and local governments’ lack of action and fear of action. China has silenced coronavirus
whistleblowers, ousted all journalists, destroyed samples, refused World Health Organization help, and concealed counts of death and infections.
No one can deny, even China themselves, there was a massive cover up. China is responsible for what is happening in the world. And the world should take punitive measures against a political system that offers security and growth in return of submission to authoritarian rules as successful, since China are claiming and marketing.
However, it is still too early for anywhere to declare victory just yet. But against the odds, Kurdish Government has succeeded at keeping their virus numbers low, despite their links to Iran. Perhaps governments in North America and Europe, which are now bearing the brunt of the pandemic, can emulate their best practices, and stop the spread of the virus through the global population.
The Kurdistan Region’s response may not be directly translatable elsewhere, it is an interesting governance model, a democracy mix of carrots and sticks, that have been so far helpful, quarantine and isolation protocols are strictly enforced, even it didn’t mercy a Kurdish General Director of Custom, highly influential, to lose his job, after his return from Germany on an official trip, rejected to be quarantined, resulted in a positive test result – This is it “nobody is above the law when it comes to the general public lives”.
The world is not justice, a global novel virus that could stay quarantining us homes may be for months – is already changing the relationship of governments to the outside world, even to each other. But our best thrust at a guide to the obscure ways that society, government, healthcare, the economy, our lifestyles and more
- will change.
Thus, good governance lessons could be drawn from good governments who have no identity. Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government has proved for the world that they know good governance and how to restrict any virus threat. Besides, the Kurdish public showed their greatest care of abiding by rules and being civilized, as a sign “Wish for life”, way better than many developed countries.
