The ManicaPost
Moffat Mungazi
AS the world steps up efforts to mitigate the socio-economic impact of Covid-19, the World Health Organisation is leading a multi-faceted response to the pandemic whose devastating effects continue to wreak havoc across the globe.
Everyone needs to join hands as we battle to contain the coronavirus.
Indeed, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was spot-on when he succinctly observed that, “We may have to be apart physically for a while, but we can still come together virtually.
The lockdowns across the world are a painful but necessary experience which we ought to go through in order to stop the spread of Covid-19.
In Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa has been very proactive as he leads from the front.
As Zimbabwe winds down on the 21-day lockdown, the nation should not let its guard down as the battle is far from being over.
At this point, prevention and precaution are key.
Amidst all of this, the brave healthcare workers that are doing the life-saving work on the front lines need to be celebrated.
Compliance is crucial
Loads of useful information is being published on a daily basis by global health organisations, particularly WHO and our own Ministry of Health and Child Care.
We need to follow the guidelines religiously as or lives depend on it. We need to stay at home and stay safe, avoiding unnecessary travelling by all means.
All workplaces need to be decongested. Government has led the way by cutting the number of onsite staff, while corporate entities have followed suit by decongesting their work places. Wherever possible, some employees are working from home. As a result, some organisations have temporarily closed some of their branches.
Others have reduced their working hours in order to minimise their employees’ exposure.
This is an opportunity for local banks to ensure that electronic and online transactions are seamless as this will remove the need to queue for banking services and cash.
Back to basics
There are several things we had come to take for granted, but nature has a way of subtly nudging us back to reality.
Practising good personal hygiene has always been fundamental to a healthy lifestyle, yet many people were now letting it slide. Now faced with the ubiquitous hazard of Covid-19, washing our hands with soap and running water has become the magic bullet.
The need to observe social distancing can never be overemphasised, not because we have lost affinity for each other, but because it is a way of protecting ourselves.
It is also of paramount importance that we seek medical attention should we suspect infection of coronavirus.
Acting responsibly
Covid-19, perhaps by default, has presented us with the optimum opportunity to be on the lookout for each other.
We all have a critical role to play as protagonists in this fight against the disease.
Practising self-isolation when infected is only the beginning of acting responsibly.
Fighting coronavirus is not the responsibility of Government and healthcare providers alone, it is everyone’s responsibility. It is an obligation that we are all saddled with.
It has become a shared concern and a collective responsibility. As such, it is better to lose a moment in life than to lose life through recklessness as the Covid-19 pandemic traverses across the globe.
Great progress has been made so far in flattening the curve and therefore the world cannot risk reversing the gains made so far against what has become public enemy number one.
As there is no known cure for Covid-19 at the moment, we have to desist from proffering home-made antidotes which have not been scientifically proven.
We shouldn’t turn our backyards into laboratories.
Fake news exaggerating positive cases have also been flooding social media. This has to stop. Curbing the spread of Covid-19 demands that everyone acts responsibly. It is better for us to be safe than sorry.
Mr António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, could not have put it any better way: “There is no greater case for collective action than our joint response to Covid-19. We are in this together and we will get through this together.”
