A German investor who has been in the Island for nearly 35 years, spoke to the Sunday Observer about his latest experience of calamity which has struck Sri Lanka.
Recalling the 30-year war against terrorism followed by a devastating tsunami in 2004, Dr. Dietmar Doering, a hotelier with three hotels in the Island, a former national table tennis coach and a guest lecturer at the Colombo University and the NSBM Green University in Homagama, said that the Coronavirus pandemic might be the most challenging adversity which Sri Lanka has had to face.
All other previous disasters and conflicts somehow had a limited time and/or regional relevance to parts of Sri Lanka. With the Corona pandemic the whole country, whole of Asia and in fact the whole world is tremendously affected.
When asked about his assessment for the future of tourism and the economy of Sri Lanka as a whole, he outlined different aspects.
Countries are dealing with the crisis in various ways. China for example has developed a smart way of exiting from the corona crisis. The main industrial hubs such as Shanghai and Beijing are back in full swing and production is soaring, and the Apple stores in Beijing count record client numbers today.
Promising recovery rates may allow a speedy return to normalcy which is of utmost importance for Sri Lanka’s faltering economy.
He said the health impact in Sri Lanka might not be very significant when it comes to mortality. At present Sri Lanka has suffered seven deaths.
The condition of patients may play a major role when it comes to developing the full blown virus. In Germany, the ratio between infected Covid19 patients and mortality shows that approx. 1–2% of COVID 19 infected patients died. A figure which is more or less equivalent to the generally known influenza based mortality of the recent years.
The present corona type COVID-19 seems to be much worse, but as of today not a single scientific survey exists to prove this fact.
A leading professor of the University of Mainz, Prof. Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, who was in charge of the Institute for Microbiology and Infections Epidemiology for over 22 years, however, stated that there is a high probability that COVID-19 is more or less equal in its effect on human health as the normal coronavirus.
His thesis was supported by a French study recently.
Prof. Bhakdi in an open letter to the German Chancellor Merkel proposed to conduct a scientific survey by surveying 1,000 Germans who contracted COVID 19 and compare their mortality rate with another peer group of 1,000 Germans who had been infected with a normal coronavirus. If the result is equal to the French survey, then the strict measures could be immediately relaxed to normal level at least.
Dr. Doering said that Sri Lanka might not be hit by the present crisis as countries in the Western Hemisphere. He said, “During the past few weeks I delivered essential food items and funds to a poor family in the Nikaweratiya area whenever the curfew was lifted. It’s a family of four women, a grandma, a mother and two minor daughters.
There is no breadwinner in this family.
“The family is totally dependent on help from outside. They live in a housing scheme which was built for poor families under a government scheme. No public transport for them even in non-curfew periods. I noted with great pleasure how disciplined the people in Kuliyapitiya, Hettipola and Nikaweritiya stood in line, sometimes for hours to collect their supplies.
Police and Army a good example
“Police stations these days are frequented by numerous people to obtain permits to travel. These permits exceed over a thousand since the beginning of the curfew season. I noticed the calm and friendly manner in which police personnel attended to the people.
“Finding how peacefully people are taking the crisis, I came to the conclusion that empathy is widely exercised here. One of the surveys which AGSEP Research Institute undertook last year for the Ministry of Tourism, confirmed the same results. Sri Lankan people were perceived by 80% of foreign tourists as very friendly and helpful. My very own and personal conclusion as to how this form of empathy is so widespread in Sri Lanka may lie in the Buddhist philosophy and the practical teaching of Buddhism in the temples and homes in Sri Lanka. This is a good prospect for Sri Lanka’s future development, especially in the tourism sector.
“It is also a challenging task for the law enforcement authorities to curb the fake officials who are acting as Army Intelligence or Police in civilian clothes taking advantage of the situation in the country. During my last visit to Nikaweratiya I was confronted by such a group of criminals who tried to stop my car. After I reported the incident to the Nikaweratiya Police I was able to move back to my home in Nattandiya.
Though the challenges to solve this problem are not disappearing overnight, it should be convincingly said that Sri Lanka will pass through the bad times like it did with other sad periods.
German tourists will most likely return to Sri Lanka immediately after air traffic is restored.