by Thinus Ferreira
Discovery Channel (DStv 121) has added a quickly produced documentary special, Pandemic: Covid-19, that will be broadcast this Sunday night at 20:55 and that will take viewers back to the beginning to show how, within a matter of weeks, the virus spread through China and the world.
The hourlong documentary special is filled with scientists and experts all sharing their insights about the novel coronavirus which has now become the defining global health crisis of our lifetime.
Seemingly overnight Covid-19 has changed not just South Africa and African life but the lives of people globally, right down to the personal way people used to interact with each other.
Origin documentary
Pandemic: Covid-19 gives an in-depth look at the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the globe and is an "origin documentary" that starts right at the beginning where the virus is believed to have jumped from animals to humans in a food amrket in Wuhan, China.
In Pandemic: Covid-19 experts shed light on its treatment and transmission that which initially baffled doctors and scientists who first encountered early patients who fell ill. The special will also look at how within a matter of weeks, Covid-19 spread throughout China and beyond, alarming healthcare professionals and scientists.
Pandemic: Covid-19 takes viewers inside the fight to contain the pandemic with the latest news on how governments are coordinating to test and treat patients to try and prevent further spread. Experts reveal why Covid-19 is such a unique virus, why the world was so unprepared for it and what could have been done differently to contain its spread.
The special will also trace the origin of the outbreak in the United States to the first patient, its rapid spread in Seattle and probe the dramatic and unexpected transmission across the country. Viewers will hear from the leading experts in medicine on the frontlines as well as academia, government officials and patients with first-hand accounts.
Despite
quarantines in multiple countries such as China, Korea and Italy, in a few
short weeks the world has watched as the virus has spread – where countries
such as Italy are seeing hundreds die each day, even while the country has gone
into lockdown.
Is the United States prepared to face this global pandemic unrivalled in
modern history? Every day the story takes another dramatic turn, as the number
of infected and reported dead in the United States continues on an upward
trajectory.
Pandemic: Covid-19 looks at the effects of the drastic measures
happening across America as institutions, schools and businesses are shut down
to prevent transmission. This timely special will shed insight from those
leading the fight to find answers as well as a possible cure.
Pandemic: Covid-19 was executive produced by Ian Russell and Sarah Jane Cohen and will broadcast in South Africa on Discovery Channel (DStv 121) on Sunday 29 March 2020 at 20:55 with a repeat on Monday 30 March at 21:45.
Discovery Channel also has a second coronavirus documentary, Covid-19: Battling the Virus that will broadcast on Sunday 26 April 2020 at 20:55 with a repeat on Monday 27 April at 21:45.
