Last Updated on March 22, 2020, 8:26 AM AST by Anthony Morris
After the news that there have been two imported cases of coronavirus in Haiti, the Haitians rushed to buy gas, soap, face masks and food on Friday.
On Thursday, the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, said that two patients had been put in quarantine after they had tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
One out of the two is a 31-year-old Haitian who had just returned from Paris, and the other is a Belgian volunteer, volunteering at an orphanage in Port-au-Prince.
The President added that the country would be closing all airports, factories, seaports and schools. The measure is being taken to stop the new cases of the novel coronavirus.
Still, health workers have said that these measures may prevent the arrival of important medical supplies and incoming volunteer doctors and nurses if the virus starts to spread in Haiti which has a population of around 11 million.
According to the United Nations, around 35% of the Haitians lack access to the drinking water services and around two-thirds of the total population have either no sanitation services or minimal sanitation services.
The lack of both drinking water and sanitation services make the people more vulnerable to the coronavirus as drinking water, and washing hands regularly is highly recommended. Without these, it would be extremely challenging to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Haiti just completed its first year free of cholera, which was imported in the country by U.N. peacekeepers and the disease had killed around 10,000 people in the past ten years.
Most of the Gas stations had almost run out of fuel by the Friday afternoon.
People had flooded the markets. Some of them were wearing face masks and were buying food, water and cooking gas on the first day of an imposed 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
Street vendors were selling face masks of varying types for about $1 per mask.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
