Spain has been in lockdown since this weekend. Nobody is allowed to take to the streets anymore. The ideal way to still be able to get out of the house is to walk the dog, says Alex Tielemans. The block is a valid excuse for the authorities. “The phenomenon has grown so fast that Spaniards now even offer dogs online so that others can walk their four-legged friends for a fee.” People even take a fake dog outside.
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600 euro fine
The streets of Barcelona and Madrid are deserted. The Rambla, where it is usually teeming with tourists, is extinct. But not all Spaniards neatly adhere to the new rules. According to local media, Madrid has already been arrested in the Spanish capital and 350 fines of 600 euros or more have been issued to people who do not care about the quarantine. However, not all tourists in Spain see the need for the lockdown. In Tenerife, an agent had to undress into a hotel pool to take out a British tourist who refused to interrupt her swim.
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One dead, hope
The Turkish city of Istanbul is not yet in lockdown, but most people stay home as a precaution. Correspondent Olaf Koens notices this. “Istanbul is a busy, chaotic, loud city. And for the first time it is quiet today. You do not hear honking cars, not the buzz of the many thousands of tourists through the center, not the pile driving of piles in the Bosporus quay. “
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According to official figures, there has only been one death from the corona virus. Still, a lot of people are worried – the realization that everything might change for good is slowly falling. Turkey has been hard hit in recent years with attacks, a failed coup and the crash of the Lira. It’s going to be exciting, says Koens. “I am safely at home in Istanbul with my family, my wife and our two children. The schools are closed. With the two little Koens it is chaotic, sometimes exhausting – but it is also quite cozy. It is hoped it will stay that way. “
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In the middle of nowhere
Koens’ colleague and camerawoman Edmée van Rijn is stuck in Norway. She was on vacation in northern Scandinavia when the flights stopped. She tried to come back to Turkey, but the borders quickly closed and air traffic was stopped. “So for now I’m sitting with 31 huskies on a farm in the middle of nowhere. The nearest neighbors live a mile away,” she writes.
In Norway too, everyone is advised to stay at home and not travel between counties. “For the time being, there is massive response. Because the neighbors are far away and the dogs have to keep moving, we can still go outside with the husky to sled.”
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Corona at the office
“In terms of news, the US is a little behind the Netherlands,” says Ruben Leter, producer and reporter at Erik Mouthaan in New York, “although we were soon pushed to the facts ourselves. After an infection last Wednesday in our office building has been established, the office has been vacated. We have been working from home ever since. “
RTL News New York has its office in the building of the major American news channel CBS News. Six company employees have tested positive for the corona virus. “We all feel well for the time being. However, our trainee flew back to the Netherlands last Monday for safety reasons.”
The streets in New York are quite empty. “I have been working at home for a week now. Once a day I walk around the block or go shopping. All schools and restaurants are closed and the city may go into complete lockdown later this week. We can happily do our work Even if you have to be creative with solutions in such a situation. Erik has exchanged the roof from which he usually reports for his living room. Unfortunately, that view is a lot less spectacular. “
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“We’re all dying!”
“In the past few weeks, it seemed like I was living in a different planet, not in another country,” said Russia correspondent Eva Hartog. While her Dutch friends had long since started working from home, life continued in Moscow. This weekend the cafes, restaurants and cinemas were packed. Friends still took the busy metro to work every day. And on Saturday there was still a full stadium for thousands of fans who sang loudly: “We are all going to die! We are all going to die!”
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That relaxed attitude, according to Hartog, is because Russia has so far had relatively little trouble with the corona virus. “Please note that this is mainly due to the fact that very little is tested and it is almost impossible to get a test.” But the lack of information created an atmosphere of untouchability, fueled by state media and politicians.
Until yesterday. Suddenly the number of corona cases increases rapidly. According to the latest figures, there are now 147 cases. The awareness slowly dawns. “You see more and more people with masks. The food delivery services are working overtime, because to be sure, many Muscovites now limit their trips to the store.” Not the toilet paper flies out of the shops, but the buckwheat, a kind of grain that Russians can’t get enough of.
And yet the seriousness of the situation does not seem to have fully penetrated the Kremlin. President Putin confirmed yesterday that a nationwide “referendum” will be held on April 22 over amendments to the constitution that will allow him to remain president until 2036.
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One family on the rise at a time
The seriousness has penetrated in Brazil. The country is quickly captivated by the corona virus, says correspondent Sandra Korstjens. In her home town of São Paulo, most schools officially close their doors on Monday. But many parents already keep their children at home. “Neighbors that were packed close together at a birthday party last Sunday don’t dare to leave their house two days later.”
“Fortunately, I have a home office myself. But when my four-year-old daughter is home all day, it will be more difficult to work.” She and her husband alternate with home education. At the apartment building where they live they can still play outside. But the playground is now closed. And as of today, only one family can stand in the elevator.
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Meanwhile, criticism of President Bolsonaro is growing. Many Brazilians are angry with the way he handles the crisis. He does not take the threat at all seriously for the time being and says that there is “hysteria” surrounding the virus. Last Sunday he just took a picture with dozens of followers during a manifestation, while he actually had to remain in isolation, because the result of his second test was not yet known.
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“I’m already bored”
Africa correspondent Saskia Houttuin has been at home in Nairobi since Sunday evening. President Kenyatta announced that day that people who had been in a corona country in the previous two weeks must be quarantined at home. “Having just been to the United States means I have to stick to that too. I’m already bored, but even though I don’t have any complaints, I think it’s important not to contribute to potential dissemination.” There is one advantage: I no longer have an excuse to leave the reports that I have yet to finish. And the weather is great in Nairobi, so I consider myself lucky that I can enjoy it on our roof terrace.
Houttuin now mainly follows news from Kenya via Twitter. For days, #coronavirusinKenya has topped the list of Trending Topics. Here, too, hoarding countrymen are ridiculed, people wonder whether the government is doing enough, and special initiatives are emerging to support each other. The hashtag #SanitizersForSlums exposes a painful problem: there is little running water in the slums of Nairobi, let alone enough soap for people to wash with. Kenyans are calling on each other and the government to bring soap and disinfectant to the slums.
The contrast is great with the large shopping centers in Nairobi, where mainly the Kenyan upper middle class and expats come: where you now get a dash of disinfectant on your hands as standard.
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Crazy foreigner
“My home city of New Delhi feels crazy these days,” says India correspondent Eva Oude Elferink. The club of old ladies who make their rounds every morning through the park opposite her house is very thin. “The ladies who walk on stiffly suddenly wear a mask. It is a strange sight.”
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In India, there are 147 confirmed cases of the virus. Here, too, people are starting to take precautions. The local pharmacist has no time for a chat. It is six o’clock and rush hour. More and more people are trying to squeeze into his narrow case. They all come for what the counter is filled with: masks and handles. Not the A brands, they are no longer available. But people don’t care.
“In the middle of winter, when air pollution is at its most intense here, I still feel embarrassed walking up with my mask. Crazy foreigner, I see my Indian neighbors think. Or at least I think they think. But in times nothing is crazy about corona. “
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