Curbing Covid-19

We look at government’s plans to tackle the virus, what it’s like living in lockdown and where to get help

Until early March, we were relatively unscathed. It was a crisis playing out in other countries, making other people sick, killing other people’s loved ones. Now it’s here. And it’s very much our crisis too.

When a solemn President Cyril Ramaphosa stood before the nation and declared Covid-19 a national disaster, life as we knew it stopped.

Everything we do until the virus has run its course will be done under the spectre of the disease.

This is our real “thuma mina” moment, he said – because we all have the obligation to halt the spread. If we don’t, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Communities already vulnerable as a result of TB and HIV would be decimated if the virus takes hold and Ramaphosa isn’t taking any chances.

The president was widely praised for his no-nonsense approach to the virus, which is far more decisive than anything the UK and the US did when the numbers started ratcheting up.

No school until after Easter. No visitors allowed into SA from high-risk countries, including Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, the United States, the UK and China.

South Africans who travelled to highrisk areas as far back as mid-February must have themselves tested. No gatherings of more than 100 people – even if it’s your wedding day.