Thought of the Day - July 9 - SARS-CoV-2, Not the Only Plague Sweeping the World

Maybe you thought I was going to talk about reports of a new strain of H1N1 (swine flu) but no, this is about locusts.

This plague also broke out in 2019 initially in East Africa. By January of this year it was affecting Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea, Egypt, Oman, Djibouti, Somalia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, India, and Nepal.

By April of this year, 23 countries were affected, over two million hectares had been devastated and an estimated billion dollars of crops had been lost. The plague is now the worst in 70 years in Kenya, and 25 years in Ethiopia, Somalia, and India.

But that is not all. There is also swarming in South America, from Paraguay into Argentina and now threatening southern Brazil.

Efforts to control the trillions of locusts are being hampered by the lack of resources and ongoing restrictions in travel and shipping due to COVID-19 restrictions. Canada is helping by sending helicopters and pilots, but shipping equipment is proving to be more expensive this year and pilots need to follow various quarantine rules. Thus the locusts continue to breed rapidly and will wreak havoc for many months to come.

Cheers

Cliff