Gear up to ward off the third wave’s invisible beams of death

GAUTENG is in the grip of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, in all its fury.

Within the next four weeks, it will probably overwhelm the province and spread across the country.

We need to go into into a higher lockdown, as the nation and its strained and drained dedicated medical teams fight an uphill struggle to contain the rampaging third wave.

In a life and death struggle, a deadly war of of attrition is in full progress between man and microbe, as the Covid-19 tsunami wave turns our major cities into islands of death and desolation. A biological intruder has penetrated the entire landmass, paralysing the entire country, as it unleashes its venom on the unwary and the ignorant.

The only safe strategy is to retreat from its trajectory and to wear any battle gear to ward of its invisible beams of death.

The ruthless war between man and microbe is intensifying, as the race to contain and defeat the approaching biological storm – as it menacingly looms over the horizon, threatening to engulf the nation – continues, yet we slacken our our defence by not adhering to lockdown regulations.

By defying rules and regulations, we will all become statistics on a macabre and epic scale. According to medical experts, many people are expected to die from the virus in the country by late 2021 and thousands more people will be infected, and the health system is unlikely to have enough ICU beds, as medical institutions become overwhelmed.

Prevent this grim situation from becoming a grisly reality. The way to flatten the curve is to reduce the virus’s reproductive number, the number of other people that an infected person infects.

At a personal level, we can reduce this number by washing our hands and staying home when sick. Unless and until we rigorously exercise social distancing, we stand no chance of obliterating the menace of the third, fourth and fifth Covid-19 waves, from our planet.

Most worrisome for the authorities, however, is the Covid-19 “tsunami” effect – the exponential rapidity of spread. The entire globe has been plunged into a state of uncertainty and fear by the coronavirus pandemic, our lives are being impacted in unprecedented ways.

Most of us are grappling with feelings of concern, confusion, and even frustration – as we face mounting challenges, economically and even spiritually. Times are tough.

But if there is anything we know for sure, as loyal global citizens, it is that we descend from generations of grit and ingenuity. It is within our genetic memory to mobilise in difficult times, to always take into consideration the collective well-being of our people, to weather the storms.