Education and vigilance

AS we continue on the path of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the major challenges of 2020 and 2021, there will be a lot of smiling faces in the wake of the announcement of assistance for students this year.

There is good news for 200,000 early childhood education to Year 13 students following the announcement yesterday by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka of a $200 cash assistance for each school child in a family whose combined annual income is less than $50,000.

In a world that is still recovering from the pandemic, any assistance would be welcomed.

We remember the thousands of Fijians who lost their jobs, especially in the wake of the second wave which hit us in April, 2021.

We remember the thousands of families who struggled to put food on the table. They struggled to make ends meet.

Now as our economy slowly recovers, we are reminded about how many people kept their hopes alive, and continued to live their lives in the face of daily struggles.

Any assistance for the people would be savoured to the brim.

However, in saying that, we are also reminded about what the pandemic did to us.

Now that a new COVID-19 variant has been detected in Nadi, we look to the people to do the right thing once again.

PM Rabuka is urging Fijians to remain vigilant and to continue with COVID-safe practices.

The new variant, the PM confirmed, is already in Nadi.

“People should remain vigilant with hand washing, masking and all the protocols.”

As our report points out, while the PM did not name the new variant, a recent update by the World Health Organization said outside of China, one of the Omicron sub variants originally detected in October 2022 was XBB.1.5, a recombinant of two BA.2 sub-lineages.

It was on the increase in the United States and Europe and was in more than 25 countries.

While it has been described as the most transmissible sub-variant that has been detected, there was no indication that it was more severe than other types of COVID-19.

We know the impact of COVID-19 though. We know what it can do to our country.

We just have to reflect on the past two years to know why it is important for us to fight this.

There shouldn’t be room for complacency.

In fact the challenges we went through as a nation weren’t pleasant.

Remember how our economy was negatively impacted? The last thing we want is a repetition.

That’s why we have to be vigilant.

We know what must be done.

We know all the safety measures. We lived with them for two years! Our challenge now is how we factor that once more in our lives.