Danger point not yet passed

SOUTH Africans are now in the final week of what has been one of the toughest lockdowns in the world.

Next Friday, if all goes well, the restrictions will ease slightly from level 5 to level4.

Ultimately, if we continue as we have done; self-isolating, observing strict hygiene protocols and ramping up our testing capacity, our country will return to some form of the normality we once took for granted only five weeks ago.

Covid-19 has taken the world by storm, much like HIV/Aids started doing 30 years ago. The huge difference, though, has been the speed at which the new coronavirus infects people, and the rapid death of the most vulnerable of those it infects.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa noted on Thursday night, we have all made incredible sacrifices, and we will still be asked to make more – but the price is worth it.

The US went from 332 Covid19 infections and 17 deaths seven weeks ago, to – as of yesterday afternoon – 886 709 cases this week and 50 243 deaths.

Over the same period, our country went from 1 reported infection and no deaths to 3 953 cases and 75 deaths as of yesterday.

On Thursday night, our president revealed a roadmap of how the government, in partnership with civil society, intended navigating us through this unfolding public health catastrophe.

In the US, President Donald Trump was firing his umpteenth scientific adviser, and suggested the use of ultraviolet light on patients be explored and that disinfectant be injected into patients to cure them.

South Africans need no reminding of the dangers of quackery and denialism; as many as 360 000 of our citizens had early deaths because of the hubris of misguided leaders and their lackeys 20 years ago.

We have not passed the danger point – we are far from it – but the quality of leadership we currently enjoy gives us the best possible chance of getting past it.

We can be immensely grateful for that.