Page - 513 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

CHAPTER F-1 “Flattening the Curve” Through COVID-19 Contagion Containment Anis Chowdhury* and Jomo Kwame Sundaram** Abstract Limited, uneven, and possibly “inaccurate” tests make it impossible to know the true scale of COVID-19 infections in the global South. Nevertheless, given the grossly inadequate health systems, further undermined by neoliberal reforms, catastrophic consequences for developing countries are feared. “Flattening the curve” of new infec- tions seeks to ensure national health systems can cope by rapidly augmenting needed capacities and capabilities. The many “known and unknown” unknowns about the pandemic, and its implications, complicate the challenges posed by the complex and very varied socio-economic conditions in most developing countries. Neglecting prompt and adequate precautionary measures due to complacency for a variety of reasons, many governments have belatedly tried to check contagion by strictly imposing extended “stay-in-shelter” “lockdowns.” Success for these types of measures require full public involvement, through social mobilization, public understanding, and credible leadership, enhanced by transparency, information sharing, * Adjunct Professor of Economics, Western Sydney University and University of New South Wales (Canberra campus); former Senior United Nations official (2008-2016). ** Senior advisor at the Khazanah Research Institute and Former economics profes- sor until 2004; and Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development in the United Nations system (2005–2015).