Covid-19: The scourge is prevalent among us

Standard People
By Johannes Marisa Many articles have been written about Covid-19 in the world. Mass media has played significant roles in the dissemination of Covid-19 information. Many people have thus benefited immensely from the availed information. However, not everyone has received the correct information as there is either poor network access in remote areas or some […]

By Johannes Marisa

Many articles have been written about Covid-19 in the world. Mass media has played significant roles in the dissemination of Covid-19 information.

Many people have thus benefited immensely from the availed information.

However, not everyone has received the correct information as there is either poor network access in remote areas or some people do not have android phones.

There is so much distortion of a lot of information and coupled with conspiracy theories and myths, some people are in a quandary about what to do. We ought to disseminate as much correct information as possible so that we are not caught off guard.

Covid-19 is still as monstrous as it was before. Indeed, the number of daily cases nowadays is threatening to surpass those ones which were recorded during the peak stages of fear.

Last Thursday, a total of 737 425 cases were recorded with at least 13 827 deaths. This is surely not good news, but shows that the second wave is threatening to cut many lives again. The trend seems different from the second wave now as many countries that are being heavily hit were spared last time. Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria have joined the wagon of Germany, Italy and France at a very fast speed. Many people are losing their precious lives daily and it is important for us all to disseminate the right information for the betterment of the nation.

When the second wave started striking in Europe, many people in Zimbabwe thought the scourge was not coming to us anymore. It took close to two months for us to be hit again, culminating in numerous infections and deaths in December and January. We, therefore, need to take measures now which include the following:

We need to continue making all the necessary noise to remind people that the scourge can be worse than what we saw in December and January.

This would mean all the precautionary measures should remain in place. Many people have dumped the use of masks and sanitisers while social distancing is now not regarded as important.

Please let us understand that we are not yet out of the woods as a nation. These words should sink deeper in your brains so that you all remember what you are supposed to do.

Vaccination should be a continuous process in order to cover as many people as possible. Shunning the vaccines will not be good for your health in general. Many religious leaders have not been helping matters.

They claim that God showed them that vaccines are satanic as written in the Book of Revelations. We appreciate that these preachers have different gifts, but encroaching into medical territory when the nation is in need of vaccines is sadistic and absurd.

Let us all command our followers to rally behind government in its endeavour to deliver health to the masses. We have been inundated with numerous calls as medical practitioners about the safety of the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines that our country is using. So far so good. For those with chronic medical conditions like hypertension, diabetes and asthma, you can still get the vaccination done as long as your conditions are well-controlled with you taking your drugs as prescribed by your medical practitioners. I realised there are many people who default on taking their medications and these people are putting their lives at risk even considering that they also require vaccination.

Let us be serious about Covid-19. Encourage your colleagues to take the vaccines. I have finished my doses and even if they were more doses ahead of the Sinopharm vaccine, then I was going to be the first one to receive.

The threat of a third wave is just imminent and anything can happen within the next six weeks if the behaviour of the people doesn’t change.

Government should remain very alert and all necessary measures should be taken. I applaud the ministry of Health for the concrete decision taken on April 6 to consider the 100 remaining graduates for employment. Our new graduate doctors need our support as a nation and allowing them to roam the streets while the nation is facing threats from a Covid-19 third wave attack is not a good idea. The young men and women should be trained fast so that they stand tall against this calamitous disease. Covid-19 is real and we should not realise its virulence too late when it has already taken your relative away.

Just remember that we are not yet out of the woods. The threat of the attack is continuous and repelling the attack needs you and me. Keep everyone safe!

  Dr Johannes Marisa is a medical practitioner and a public health expert who can be accessed on [email protected]