Chronicle Editor
THE festive season is upon us and understandably people will be as expected in the usual high spirits commensurate with the period of merry-making despite the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic that has left the global community dancing to its tune.
As usual some will be travelling to various holiday destinations while some will be going to their rural homes to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones, a tradition spread across most countries in sub-Sahara Africa. The tradition permeates through different strands of society.
While there is nothing wrong with being in a celebratory mood during this time of the year, we seek to remind our beloved citizens that while merry-making, there is no need for people to be reckless on the country’s roads to avoid accidents and also good behaviour is recommended at entertainment spots where violent incidents have been reported in the past.
Much as we encourage good behaviour on our country’s roads and elsewhere in communities, it should not escape our minds that while we merry-make during his festive season we are now living in the world of Covid-19. We say so because we are worried about the daily surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.
Just yesterday our sister paper, Chronicle carried a story on its front page, which read that Mpilo Central Hospital has recorded an alarming 74 Covid-19 cases over the past four days which left a nine-month-old baby and 14 staff members infected.
The development comes at a time when the Bulawayo Province is now accounting for more than 32 percent of the 620 new cases just recorded in the country. A total of 11 866 cases had been recorded in Zimbabwe by Thursday evening with an average of 100 new Covid-19 cases being reported daily.
Against such background it is important that people should stick to the strategies of preventing Covid-19 such as wearing of masks, sanitising and social distancing as they have proved to be effective. It would be folly to disregard these strategies because it is Christmas. We should all be responsible.
Our situation if we are not careful might also worsen as Zimbabweans based in South Africa commonly known as injiva might this week arrive in the country in droves to spend the holiday with their loved ones. While we are not stigmatising the injiva and there is no reason to do so anywhere, we are worried with the situation obtaining in the neighbouring country as far as the Covid-19 pandemic is concerned.
Just on Friday, South African authorities announced that there is a new variant of Covid-19 that has been identified in their country and is circulating widely — although they have not concluded whether it is more severe than the original strains.
According to the SA media, the authorities there said what was particularly concerning was that the new strain seemed to be spreading quicker than the dominant strains when Covid-19 started circulating in the country. The number of cases also keep rising much to the chagrin of everybody.
Therefore, we are in total agreement with Mpilo Central Hospital acting chief executive officer, Professor Solwayo Ngwenya who, while speaking to Chronicle, said the festive season-related travelling to countries like South Africa and returning of Zimbabweans from the neighbouring country could worsen the situation as SA was a Covid-19 hotspot. It is important for people to avoid large gatherings and proceed if need be to parties, weddings and even funerals with caution.
Let us celebrate the festive season with the Covid-19 in mind and we should keep our eyes on the ball and avoid throwing caution into the wind.
Bongani Ndlovu