African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1419: Chapter 9: Impact

February 18, 1920.

Cabinda.

By mid-February, the entire Cabinda had fallen into a state of panic. As the gateway city connecting East Africa to Europe and America, Cabinda was hit the hardest in this epidemic.

”The whole city is on high alert now. Once bustling taverns, restaurants, clubs, and other establishments are now desolate, with sparse pedestrians on the streets...” reported by the journalist of East Africa Cabinda Radio News to the citizens.

Listening to the radio broadcast, Cabinda citizen Labe told his wife and children, ”The epidemic is getting more severe now, don’t go wandering outside for no reason.”

Due to the epidemic, Cabinda City’s schools extended their holiday period, so Mr. Labe’s two sons and one daughter stayed at home.

The wife said, ”Since the end of last month, we hardly go out anymore. However, going out is still unavoidable. Although we have ample reserves of items like firewood, rice, oil, and salt, we must regularly purchase vegetables, fruits, meat, and other perishable goods.”

Labe said, ”Even if we have to go out, we must wear masks at least to provide some protection. I hear that now European and American countries are starting to wear masks too. They mocked us for doing so previously—turns out, what goes around comes around, and now they’re in a tough spot.”

”News reports indicate that the number of cases in London has reached hundreds of thousands. Compared to that, the epidemic in our Cabinda is insignificant, and this is during the most severe situation in our city.”

As the hardest-hit area by the epidemic in East Africa, Cabinda currently has only around a thousand cases. In contrast with London’s hundreds of thousands of infections, it does seem like a drop in the ocean.

Labe said, ”Concerning the current situation in London, I believe it should still be the most conservative data. After all, the United Kingdom government didn’t prepare adequately beforehand.”

The wife said in shock, ”My God, hundreds of thousands is terrifying enough. If this is the most conservative estimate, could it potentially reach a million? That would roughly equate to our entire urban population.”

The total population of Cabinda is close to a million, and imagining the entire city’s population contracting the European flu is shocking indeed.

Labe told his wife, ”Don’t be alarmed. It’s heard that many European cities are already shut down now. It’s quite fortunate that we can still maintain normal operations here.”

”Even so, the hospitals in Cabinda are already overcrowded. It’s unimaginable how European medical institutions must be handling the situation now. I assume most people are facing a lack of medicine and can only endure it. If they cannot, it becomes very dangerous.”

In terms of pharmaceuticals, East Africa is not lacking much. During the Four-Five Plan period, East Africa’s pharmaceutical industry developed rapidly, at least elevating its production to the top global level.

This stems from the East African Government’s early prediction of the European war, given that medicine is a critical strategic material in wartime environments, and during the early stages of the war, it was one of the most profitable products for East Africa.

Now that the world war has ended, East Africa’s pharmaceutical industry hasn’t stalled. Instead, it gathered numerous production lines and workers, aligning with the epidemic prevention efforts. In the coming years, East Africa’s pharmaceutical industry will continue to thrive.

Even ordinary households like Labe’s have already stocked a considerable amount of medicines, though most are basic drugs for reducing fever, alleviating symptoms, and boosting immunity.

This is exactly the goal that the East African Government hopes to achieve, considering the epidemic cannot be fully prevented or avoided. In such circumstances, more people must be able to withstand it.

After all, the true threat of the European flu lies in its rapid spread, with a mortality rate maintained at about five percent. If there are enough medications, East Africa might reduce the fatality rate of the European flu in the country to around two or three percent, or even lower, especially during the epidemic’s early stages.

Labe told his wife, ”Right now, our food supply is ample, our sanitary environment is superior to many European cities, our population density is lower than European and American cities, and medications are sufficient. Compared to Europeans, we are quite fortunate. But those more backward countries are the most pitiable.”

”Originally, this pandemic was caused by the European war, and countries and regions outside of Europe suffer from an unprovoked calamity.”

”An even worse situation is in many backward countries, where their medical, health, and governmental organizational capabilities are far behind ours in industrial nations. It can be imagined how helpless the ordinary people in these countries feel under the epidemic’s impact.”

”For most of their fate, it’s highly likely they’ll have to tough it out and act as if the epidemic doesn’t exist.”

Indeed, what Labe said is a valid approach, considering the current death rate of the European flu is around five percent. This means out of every hundred people, ’at most’ about five may lose their life.

This is already quite dreadful in reality, but for those backward countries, the cost of life is remarkably cheap. After enduring the epidemic, they can quickly recuperate, sometimes even within the epidemic itself, most populations in backward countries are growing.