COMMENT: Let’s not be complacent as lockdown is relaxed

HAVING been shut up in a cocoon due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has waited with bated breath for literally some breathing space since early this year. We are happy that our lockdowns are being softened and in this country we are seeing a relaxation of measures while Covid-19 guidelines are still in force.

While we celebrate with the rest of the country that the situation is improving, with sport slowly creeping back, our airlines back in the air and schools opening in tranches in three months, we would like to hasten to throw in a word of caution. Covid-19 is still with us and therefore we should not be complacent. We may have won some battles but the war is not over yet against the virus.

This is not in any way to downplay the strides that we have made as a country with limited resources; we have done great and there is still more that we need to do to build upon the earlier positive efforts. We raise this because we are seeing a resurgence of the virus in some countries that had done a lot to contain the virus only a few months ago. It is our view that we should take major lessons from such failures of judgment that most likely are a result of complacency.

We have said on these pages before that our first line of defence against the virus is ourselves through our attitudes, adherence to health guidelines and since March this year we have managed to keep the figures down and if that is sustained much of the developed world could one day come to our shores to learn about how we managed to tame one of the greatest pandemics of our time.

Our appeal is that let us not throw caution to the wind. We need to incorporate the new normal in our everyday activities. Wash your hands, maintain social distance and wear a mask properly when in public.

If we follow all the laid down guidelines, no matter how tedious they may seem, we can get to enjoy our sport, travel across the country and even see our education system get back on track. It all rests on our behaviour that will be determined by our attitudes towards the virus. The threat is still great, let us not minimise it because the virus will not voluntarily slow down its search for an unoccupied host.

Our march towards normal livelihoods will depend largely on what we do today and continue to do consistently going forward. If we slip up and allow complacency to creep in, the virus shall slip through and we cannot afford that when we have come this far and registered so many positives in the manner in which we conducted ourselves and left little room for the virus to take root.