Corona Virus Control Solutions Late

Baku / 02.04.20 / Turan: Actions of the authorities to socially protect the population under strict special quarantine measures to reduce the negative impact of the Corona Virus pandemic are ineffective. This opinion was expressed by Mehman Aliyev, director of the Turan news agency, in an interview with the Azerbaijani Voice of America service.

According to him, the most affected are persons engaged in self-employment, whose relations with employers are not officially formalized. And illegal employment accounts for approximately 60-70 percent of the labor market.

Assessing the actions of the authorities in the current conditions, Aliyev drew parallels with the behavior of the government during the massive flood on the Kura River in 2010. Then, the authorities allocated $ 1 billion to eliminate the effects of the flood and compensate the population. Approximately 100 million was spent on riverbank protection, housing construction for the victims, and part of the funds were spent on social support of the population. Each victim received compensation. Therefore, even now it was necessary to provide assistance to the citizens most vulnerable and severely affected by harsh measures who are forced to suspend their work.

”The government is slow. The work of individual structures, for example, of the Ministry of Emergencies, is not visible. From a health perspective, there is no operational work. Until now, the issue of providing the population with masks has not been resolved. It is impossible to find them in pharmacies. Disinfection works are also not large enough.

Decision making is late and unsystematic. There is no responsiveness. The dynamics of the spread of the disease is growing. If the measures were taken in a timely and comprehensive manner - suspension of the work process, providing the population with protective equipment and conducting tests, then the results would be more favorable,” Aliyev said.

Answering a question about information support of activities directed against the spread of te Corona Virus and reducing its negative consequences, Aliyev noted that this work is being done poorly.

“For example, the Euronews TV channel informs about the Corona Virus from morning till night, while Azerbaijani TV channels still prefer entertainment programs.

On the other hand, there is no single information management. Despite the creation of an operational headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers, the government has its own press service and individual ministries distribute their own messages. Sometimes this confuses the population. No one should engage in amateur performances. All information should be flocked to the operational headquarters, processed there and distributed from there,” Aliyev said.

To meet the information needs of the population, the operational headquarters must create instructions for journalists and determine the rules so that the media know their role, responsibility and obligations.

At the same time, conditions should be created for the work of journalists so that the police and other bodies do not interfere in their work, and do not interfere with the filming. This is very important,” Aliyev said. —06D-