11 August 2020 - 18:14Dean of research at the department of global studies at Ryukoku University in Japan, Prof Kozuke Shimizu.The flow of accurate information from the government to citizens is critical in the fight against Covid-19 — particularly in societies where that information can be freely interrogated.
Speaking on the sidelines of a lecture he delivered at the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of Pretoria on Monday under the banner of “Pandemic in the era of democracy”, Shimizu told TimesLIVE that the correlation between democracy, information flow and how that affects human behaviour during a pandemic cannot be understated.
Shimizu said hiding information — like mortality rates, virus hotspots or preventive measures — should be avoided at all costs.