Chapter 1354 The Plague is Coming
Compared with higher education in East Africa, the quality level of higher education in Europe and the United States is higher than that in East Africa. This is a fact that cannot be changed in the short term. After all, East Africa lacks historical heritage.
Knowledge can also be inherited. As the birthplace of modern science and technology civilization, Europe has accumulated a large number of relevant talents over a long period of time, and it itself has monopoly characteristics in the field of science and technology.
In the past, the United States surpassed Europe by harvesting talents from the two world wars, and East Africa in this time and space also had a certain impact. In addition to East Africa's large-scale investment in education and thus achieving huge results, the active actions of the East African talent introduction plan during this World War I attracted a lot of European talents to East Africa.
Among them, the East African government's proudest achievement was that it took advantage of the turbulent internal situation in Russia to introduce a large number of high-end talents trained during the Tsarist Russia period from Russia.
At the same time, the East African government took advantage of World War I to obtain a large amount of technology from the Allies, which also played a role in verifying and supplementing the development of East Africa's science and technology field.
All of these will be transformed into East Africa's national strength during the Fifth Five-Year Plan, and are expected to directly promote East Africa's development in industrial fields such as chemical industry, energy, and machinery, and indirectly promote the development of East Africa's cutting-edge theories, including theoretical sciences such as mathematics, biology, physics, and chemistry.
The city of Cabinda will naturally also enjoy this wave of dividends. After all, Cabinda is a bridgehead for East Africa to open up to Western Europe, North America, South America and other Atlantic countries, and an international trade port.
Cabinda has been able to achieve rapid development in East Africa. In addition to policy support, geographical location is a very critical factor. Although East Africa has the territories of Cameroon and Gabon, they are far away from the economic center of East Africa, which also means that it will be difficult to surpass Cabinda and Luanda in the future.
…
When Director Borna and Lischer were talking in the office, there was a knock on the door. Knock, knock, knock...
"Come in!" said Borna.
The door of the office was opened, and Borna's secretary walked in with a panicked look, saying, "Director, there is a problem!"
Seeing the secretary's nervous expression, Borna's heart skipped a beat, but he remained calm and asked, "What's the big deal?"
The secretary said quickly: "In our recent work, we found that there have been unusual situations on the ships from Europe in the past few days. The number of people with diseases on European ships has increased significantly in the past few days."
"Among the 25 international ships we recently reviewed, six had similar cases. These patients all had symptoms such as headache, high fever, muscle atrophy, etc. These six ships were from the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal."
"Therefore, our epidemic prevention experts have concluded that this may be a large-scale plague, and that this plague mainly broke out in Europe."
After hearing what the secretary said, Borna could no longer remain calm. He suddenly asked, "Is the news confirmed?"
The secretary said, "There is a 90% probability. This is the conclusion given by our epidemic prevention expert. He inferred that the plague may have just taken shape in Europe and was affected by the war, and it broke out during this period of time."
"Because most ships have not encountered similar situations, and some ships' ports of origin are even the same as the source of suspected cases."
Borna said with a serious face: "It is better to believe this than not. Report the situation to the General Administration of Customs immediately and request that they send professionals to investigate."
“At the same time, we contacted the Cabinda City Epidemic Prevention Station, the Health Bureau and other relevant units to ask them to cooperate.”
"At the same time, suspected patients are being isolated and all ships coming from Europe are being screened and rechecked."
“Inform the city police department that the Immigration Department has asked them to investigate and control recent arrivals.”
Borna could not help but take it seriously, because East Africa itself is a country that attaches great importance to epidemic prevention. This is the tradition of East Africa. After all, the conditions in East Africa were relatively harsh at the beginning, and tropical regions themselves are prone to large-scale infectious diseases.
December 29, 1919.
As the new year is about to arrive, the plague in Europe has dealt a heavy blow to the entire East African government. This period of time was originally a rare vacation period, but because of the outbreak of the epidemic, various government units in East Africa have had to return to their posts and become busy.
Rhine City.
Ernst asked Health Minister Galloway, "Is the news true?"
Galloway said: "Yes, Your Majesty, according to the confirmation of the Empire's top epidemic prevention expert team, this is a plague that originated from Europe."
"We have found suspected cases in several ports on the west coast. At the same time, local health bureaus have also summarized individual cases. It can be confirmed that a large-scale plague is sweeping towards the empire."
The west coast of East Africa is currently the main destination for trade between East Africa and Western European countries, which was affected by the previous blockade of the Central Powers by the Allies.
Although the two major camps have now ceased fighting and the blockade has ended, many ships trading between East Africa and Europe have become accustomed to the Atlantic route.
Although navigation on the Suez Canal has resumed, it will still take some time for things to recover.
Ernst was thinking about how to deal with it. In fact, he had anticipated this plague. After all, the Spanish flu had occurred in Europe in his previous life.
As the old saying goes, after a great disaster, there will be a great epidemic. The entire World War I lasted for nearly five years, and the plague broke out at this time, which was extremely beyond Ernst's expectations.
However, this is consistent with the pattern of the occurrence of the epidemic. The plague broke out just after the war ended.
Moreover, it has been confirmed by the East African Customs epidemic prevention personnel and the Ministry of Health that the plague should be in the formation stage, otherwise the East African Customs Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau would not have discovered it only then. You know, East Africa is the country in the world that attaches the most importance to epidemic prevention work.
As early as the last century, when East Africa was still a colony, East Africa had established a relatively developed epidemic monitoring and prevention system. The first batch of immigrants who arrived in East Africa were all settled in East Africa after going through quarantine and disinfection.
Ernst ordered: "According to the strategy we prepared in 1917, immediately activate the emergency plan and conduct nationwide monitoring of the epidemic. All ports in the country must be immediately under martial law, especially ships heading to Europe and the United States. They must be monitored closely, and early warnings must be issued to European countries. Some of the data we have obtained will be sent to the countries concerned."
"At the same time, we must also pay special attention to ships heading to the Persian Gulf. After all, a tragic war just ended there, and there might be major problems there."
As early as 1917, under Ernst's instructions, East Africa had prepared a preventive plan for a possible large-scale epidemic in Europe.
However, this plan was never activated because no related incidents were detected in East Africa from 1917 to 1918, and individual cases were ultimately considered false alarms.
By 1919, Ernst had almost forgotten about the incident. Unexpectedly, the epidemic finally arrived in early 1920.
Minister of Health Garroway said: "Yes, Your Majesty, we will immediately start implementing relevant work to ensure that the impact of this epidemic on the empire is minimized."
On the same day, European countries received a reminder from the East African government, which immediately attracted the attention of European countries.
In fact, some European countries have already noticed the outbreak of this epidemic, such as neutral countries such as Spain and Portugal.
This is easy to understand. Other countries, especially those involved in World War I, had a lot of things to deal with. The epidemic was actually a small matter for them. After all, during the war, the large number of casualties was much more severe than the epidemic. The war had just ended, and their workload was not small.
Just cleaning up the ruins left over from the war and doing post-war reconstruction work was enough to keep them busy.
Moreover, due to the destruction of social order and the shortage of supplies during the war, a large number of diseases broke out in Europe itself, which made the epidemic easy to be ignored.
…
Port of Le Havre, France.
The Port of Le Havre is an important port on the Atlantic coast of France and the second largest port in France. During the war, the port was extremely prosperous.
Materials from various countries were transported throughout France through Le Havre to support France's war and social production needs.
However, just as the citizens of Le Havre were celebrating the New Year and the end of the war, a sudden disease broke out in Le Havre.
The busy streets are no longer as busy as before, with only patrol officers walking along the streets and doing propaganda door to door.
"Due to the recent outbreak, it is best for everyone not to go out or gather. Hundreds of cases have been found in Le Havre. This is a flu, which is highly contagious. It is safest to stay at home now."
"If you find any suspected cases, please report them proactively and don't hide them. The mortality rate of this epidemic is quite high, and the municipal government still has sufficient drugs and supplies to deal with the epidemic."
The reason why the Le Havre city government is confident is that there are large quantities of medicines stored in the city's warehouses. These medicines were originally intended to support the front lines, but after the war, these medicines had nowhere to go and were temporarily stored in Le Havre's warehouses.
The Le Havre city government is not panicking for the time being, but that does not mean that the French central government is not panicking.
Paris.
The President of France at this time is still Clemenceau. Clemenceau had stepped down by this time in his previous life, but now because the war has been delayed, he is still in this position.
However, Clemenceau has been in a bad mood recently. On the one hand, the French people are not satisfied with the outcome of the war. On the other hand, other interest groups in France seem to want to make him a scapegoat.
Because of this war, France not only did not get any spoils, but also failed to achieve the strategic goal of defeating Germany as it had declared before the war.
It is conceivable how bad the mood of the French people is. It can be said that the descriptions of Clemenceau by French media of all sizes are not very good.
However, France is now a mess, and no one dares to take over from Clemenceau.
"Your Excellency President, the East African government has sent us an early warning. They said a plague is breaking out in Europe and asked us to make relevant preparations."
Clemenceau said unhappily, "It seems to be another bad news, but I have gotten used to it recently. People from the health department have already reported the outbreak of the epidemic. Now it seems that we are facing another tough battle."
Clemenceau has accepted his fate. He now knows very well that he has become the scapegoat. Of course, he must bear some responsibility, but in a democratic country like France, it is impossible to put all the responsibility on Clemenceau.
Clemenceau said: "Now I have to stand my last shift for France. Although the people have a deep misunderstanding of me, I do have an unshirkable responsibility."
"My generation was obsessed with the glory of France in the past, but a war woke me up. We are no longer qualified to be the opponent of the Germans. Although we are unwilling to do so, we have to admit that Germany's strength is beyond our imagination."
"Germany's national strength is twice or even three times that of ours. The future order in Europe may be dominated by Germany and Britain. The only thing I can do is to delay the further decline of the Republic."
"Oh, forget it. It's too late to say anything. Let's talk about the epidemic! What is the situation across the country now?"
The subordinate said: "It is now basically confirmed that this is a large-scale influenza epidemic, especially in northern cities. Similar situations have also occurred in Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom."
"Based on the data from East Africans, the epidemic has even affected East Africa, and we can be sure that this is a worldwide epidemic."
"After all, if East Africa is affected, then the United States, Brazil and other parts of the world will certainly not be spared."
"At the same time, according to the East African government, the outbreak point is in Europe, and they warned us that the lethality of this plague may be no less than that of previous wars."
Hearing this, Clemenceau began to take it seriously and asked, “Do you think the East Africans are exaggerating?”
You have to know that the casualties of World War I were as high as tens of millions. Clemenceau could not imagine that the destructive power of the epidemic could exceed that of World War I.
Of course, the East African government did not say that the destructive power of the epidemic could exceed that of a world war, but it said that the harm might be no less than that of a world war, but this is also very serious.
There was indeed such a powerful plague in European history, that was the Black Death, but this epidemic was obviously not the Black Death, but influenza, so Clemenceau was skeptical about the East Africans' claims.
The subordinate said, "I think we should take it seriously, because the East African government said that the plague is spreading very quickly. They suspect that the entire Atlantic coastal countries and Europe have been affected. If we don't take it seriously, it may lead to irreversible consequences."
"Moreover, the current plague has an extremely high mortality rate, is highly contagious, and has a high transmission rate. Even if it does not reach the level of horror of the Black Death, it can still cause severe damage to countries around the world."
Clemenceau frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "What is the current epidemic situation in our country?"
The subordinate said: "It is already quite serious, but it is still within the controllable range. However, if it is really as Dong Africa said, then I am afraid we will have to go all out."
The best way to deal with this kind of large-scale epidemic is isolation, but obviously, this will cause dissatisfaction among the people. After all, isolation measures will seriously affect people’s normal lives.
It is difficult to make decisions without a decisive leader. If it was the Black Death, Clemenceau would definitely impose martial law across the country without hesitation.
However, the specific situation of the plague is still unclear, and Clemenceau's approval rating is also precarious. If it is not handled properly, Clemenceau may really be ruined and become the worst president in French history.
However, Clemenceau is obviously not an ordinary person. He is a real iron-fisted figure. Now that he has received reminders and warnings from the East African government, Clemenceau believes that he has the responsibility to shoulder the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the lives of all French people.
Anyway, he is already "notorious" in France, so he might as well go all out and do one last thing for the French people, even if this will further inflict public disgust.
(End of this chapter)
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