Peering through the gap
Its been a while since I sent out an update on how things are progressing here in Ethiopia. The Kremt rains have been heavy this year, for those of you that do not know this Ethiopia’s rainy season bought about by the same weather system that causes India’s monsoon, and like the monsoon it runs from its beginning at the end of June until it peters out in late September/or early October.
As anticipated the rains, which drive people indoors in confined spaces, and force people who would walk to use public transport, have seen a spike in cases of COVID 19 in Ethiopia with daily cases rising above the 500 mark in late July, and peaking at over 1,500 per day in late August (using the 7 day moving average on ‘worldometer’ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/ethiopia/). However since then the spike has dropped off with the average back down to 500 a day for 14 September. The mortality figures are similar, peaking in later August at 22, and coming down now to 13 (again the moving 7 day average).
Mekdela – the mountain fortress of Emperor Tewedros
Although the New Year holiday on Saturday will have affected social distancing as people came together, I anticipate that the figures allowing for a blip, will continue to fall as we move into October and could see new infections drop below 100 a day with the dry weather that we anticipate being the norm from mid October.
The other positive news is that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced that Ethiopia will re-open for Tourism as of 1 October. There will be protocols in place, including use of face-masks and sanitiser, spacing in transport (vehicles will only operate with 50% capacity) and getting people to keep a safe distance. Although details have not been made clear it is understood that the requirement for incoming passengers to quarantine will be dropped, probably relying on testing before the flight and on arrival, and a procedure to allow any positives cases to be tracked.
Meskal flowers near the Simiens – traditional for the New Year
For those eager and able to travel to Ethiopia we will offer lots of fresh air (most monuments are outside), and we anticipate that there will be so few visitors that tourist sites will be far emptier than usual, so this could be the time to book that special trip.
Additional news – the Tesfa Tours hanging calendar is out – with the Desktop version and Agenda soon to be ready.
Let me wish all our friends, customers, suppliers, and those who just picked up this blog – a happy new year, – and wish that 2013 (for that is the new year in Ethiopia) rapidly gets better for the whole world!
