Across the MENA region, countries are seeing community and people-driven efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19, and to avoid the fate of countries like Italy and Iran, which have become epicentres for the virus.
In Morocco, people in cues are keeping a distance from one another. Photo courtesy of Karim Hisham.
Covid-19, the coronavirus disease sweeping across the world, has led entire countries - including China, Italy, and France - to go into national lockdowns, and global health organisations to raise pleas for people to practice social distancing and go into self-quarantine in order to flatten the growth curve of the virus.
Middle Eastern governments, while taking many different precautions including banning all public gatherings, and closing down spaces that allow crowds of people to congregate, have not (yet, at least) announced national quarantines; several countries, however, are seeing people self-quarantine of their own accord, using social media to raise awareness of the benefits of staying at home.
Morocco. Photo courtesy of Karim Hisham.
Morocco has a viral hashtag going around, "#Kalik_FelDar" meaning "stay at home," while Lebanon - even well before the government finally announced a state of emergency only a few hours ago - was seeing photos and videos of unusually empty streets circulating across social media.
In Kuwait, Imams are amending the adhan at mosques, calling for people to pray at home instead of the usual call, "Hayy ala al Salah" which means "come to prayer."
Main image courtesy of Karim Hisham.
