 Hello and welcome to Around the World Nate Minutes, a show by People's Dispatch. In this episode, we look at the people's struggles as they face a pandemic of unprecedented proportions. We will be talking about Zimbabwe's doctors who are demanding more accountability from the government. We also look at the pandemic's relation to the water crisis in Peru and in some good news, the lifting of the lockdown in Wuhan in Chang. In our first story, the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights or the ZADHR has raised serious concerns about the extent of government preparedness to tackle the COVID-19 threat in the country. This was revealed by the events leading up to the confirmation of the second death due to the pandemic on April 7th. While the confirmation came on April 7th, the victim had died on April 4th. However, the cause of the death was revealed to be only COVID-19 after his death. The victim was a 78-79 year old man from the city of Bulwayo. He had visited the northwestern town of Wangy from March 14 to 16, where concerns about the possibility of COVID-19 spread had been raised by Chinese contractors of a major power plant. The deceased had approached a general medical practitioner on March 23, complaining of COVID-19 related symptoms including a history of cough, sore throat and fever, according to the Health Ministry statement. When he did not improve on oral antibiotic treatment, he was presented to a local hospital on Thursday, April 2, where he was admitted, the Health Ministry statement added. He was reportedly suffering from difficulty in breathing at the time of admission. Following further deterioration in his health, he was shifted to the ICU on the same evening. It was only at that point that the local COVID-19 rapid response team was called in and samples were collected and sent for testing to the National Microbiology Reference Laboratory at Harare Central Hospital. The test result was confirmed positive only five days later after the patient had already died. Stating that the time taken to process the test results was too long, ZADHR has demanded information on the real state of preparedness of the government to deal with the pandemic, especially outside the capital Harare. ZADHR also claimed that when the victim first sought medical assistance, he was not advised to self-quarantine or get tested, revealing the lack of knowledge on the case definition for suspected cases of COVID-19, the ZADHR said. Healthcare workers who were exposed to the victim did not have the required protective equipment, the doctor's body alleged, adding that the long-time period taken to complete the diagnosis is a clear sign that health professionals attending the disease were exposed. ZADHR filed a lawsuit at the High Court on April 5, Sunday, accusing the government of not taking measures to ensure their health practitioners across the country, which include nurses, nursing aides and pharmacists among others are protected. There is a dire shortage of ventilators, oxygen tanks, biohazard suits and N95 face masks in the country as per the organization. Zimbabwe's healthcare infrastructure already suffers from severe shortages of human resources and fund allocation. There are only a few quarantined isolation centers mostly located either in Harare or Boulevard, the second largest city. In our next story, we look at the spread of the disease in Peru, which is one of the most severely affected countries in Latin America, with close to 6,000 cases and nearly 170 deaths. The first case of COVID-19 in Peru was reported on March 6th. The right-wing government of Martin Vizcara introduced a number of measures with a state of emergency being declared on March 15th, along with a closure of borders. However, it is completely disregarded realities faced by the poor and marginalized communities. The people of Peru, especially the poor, are all the more vulnerable due to the water crisis over the past few years. The lack of access to water, which is fundamental in fighting the disease, puts a life of millions of Peruvians at a greater risk. In Peru, more than 3 million people do not have direct access to drinking water, that is, neither at their homes nor through community water sources. An additional 8 million people have limited access. For this reason, many people have had to leave their homes and sometimes their villages looking for portable water. These people are already living in vulnerable conditions, which have been further exacerbated due to the pandemic. In the face of this health emergency, the government has failed to take necessary measures to ensure the supply of portable water to the most vulnerable sectors of the population. Several social movements and light left-wing opposition parties have demanded that the government transport clean and free water with the help of tankers to such areas throughout the country, guaranteeing universal and permanent access. Furthermore, in the name of protecting the working class against the economic crisis, the government announced an economic plan to eight companies that have been affected by quarantine. On April 5th, President Vizcara, exercising his executive powers, approved the legislative degree Reactiva Peru or Reactivate Peru, which seeks to provide liquidity to large, medium, small and micro companies. He explained that with this degree, the Ministry of Economy guarantees 30 billion solace, about 8.7 billion US dollars as loans to companies, so as to minimize the damage that social isolation has caused to the economy. The President said that the financial aid would benefit more than 350,000 companies, of which 314,000 are small companies with less than 10 workers. However, it is important to note that 73% of Peru's workforce is employed in the informal sector and depend on their daily incomes to survive. Thus, the majority of the working class will not benefit from the government's economic policies. The government has not yet taken into account the most vulnerable populations, the people in the informal sector are those who have precarious jobs, migrants, the households that depend on one person's salary, the indigenous and rural populations. Social movements, human rights organizations, indigenous organizations and left-wing parties have urged the Peruvian government to come up with urgent social and economic programs that actually provide support and aid to the people and the grassroots. And finally, in some positive news, China lifted a 76-day lockdown of Wuhan City in Hubei Province on April 8th. Wuhan reported the first recorded case of the novel coronavirus infection last December and was under lockdown since January 23rd. The strict lockdown was imposed by officials as a step to curb the spread of the disease after the number of cases surged significantly in January. All commercial activity was halted and public transport suspended. People were not allowed to go out with exemptions only for essential services. Later, even essential services were provided at the doorstep in order to minimize the movement of people. China also built two temporary hospitals in the city within 10 days after the number of cases increased exponentially. Wuhan City alone registered 50,000 cases out of China's more than 80,000 infections. Over 2,500 deaths have been recorded in Wuhan, of out of China's over 3,200 deaths so far. Around 95% of those infected in the city have since recovered and been discharged. Wuhan is home to more than 11 million people. When the lockdown was imposed, the World Health Organization called it an unprecedented step but necessary. Similar lockdowns have been replicated almost all over the world to maintain social distancing in order to break the chain of COVID-19 spread. Restrictions of the movement of people inside the city are now being lifted. However, precautions are still in place. Officials are disinfected most public places including inside trains and all passengers are screened before they are allowed to travel. Health check-ups are also conducted at checkpoints and public places. Wuhan's Tihan International Airport has also reopened for domestic flights and was expected to see more than 200 flights on Wednesday. That's all we have in this episode of Around the World in 8 Minutes. To know more about these stories, visit our website peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thanks for watching.