VICIOUS COVID INVASION
THE country is in trouble. Big Covid-19 trouble; and this could still get worse because we as a people are not taking the pandemic seriously enough to guard against its spread.
A stark reminder was made yesterday when Secretary to the Cabinet, Dr Simon Miti announced that 48 lives had been lost to Covid-19 in a single day.
This is by far the highest number of deaths recorded in the country of lives lost to Covid-19 or related to the pandemic.
This is a wake-up call, if the country ever needed one. This is it.
Covid-19 is as real as HIV/AIDS, TB or malaria. The only difference is that it is more vicious in its attack and claims lives faster. But like many other diseases, there is a solution to stopping the spread. The only problem is that majority of the citizens seem unwilling to accept that Covid-19 is real and claiming lives at a fast rate.
Some would rather wait until they lose someone they personally know to the disease to believe. This is a dangerous way of living and totally loopy.
Unfortunately, while some people would want to debate the merits or otherwise of the disease, other countries are implementing measures to combat its spread.
Yesterday, Dr Miti announced the closure of schools for 21 days, restricted church activities to two in a week while bars and entities of similar nature would only be open from Friday to Sunday for four hours, 18:00 hours to 22:00 hours.
Additionally, masking up in public is now mandatory. That means no one is allowed to go out in public without a mask, and this includes markets, bus stations and shopping malls.
Dr Miti said Zambia has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 deaths of 48 people in the last 24 hours, while 3, 026 have tested positive to Covid-19. The number of deaths now stands at 1, 492.
And 118, 850 are cumulative cases of Covid-19 from the time the pandemic was recorded in Zambia last year in March.
It is however, imperative that these measures are enforced by law enforcement wings. Market managers have the responsibility to ensure that both traders and customers mask up.
Bus station managers equally have the responsibility of ensuring that bus drivers, conductors and passengers alike, mask up and wash their hands or sanitise.
For the government measures to be successful, all citizens have to do their part wherever they may be. It will be important to observe all the Covid prevention measures such as social distancing, washing hands regularly, sanitising, masking up and avoiding to shake hands.
The closure of schools is a temporary measure to preserve the lives of teachers and pupils alike. It is not meant to be permanent and for as long as everyone observes the safety measures, the government should be able to restore order to business for all sectors.
Sadly, the country has already lost many lives to this pandemic and it would be unforgivable to continue on the same path.
The country is dealing with an invisible enemy which must be defeated with collective responsibility of every citizen. This means when the vaccination programme is restarted, more people should turn up at health centres to get their jabs.
This is all part of the government’s programme to secure the health of its people. The people should therefore cooperate and get vaccinated.
