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The corona pandemic has affected the livelihood of everyone around the world, completely shutting down countries’ economies by forcing it to close their sources of income.
As destination reopen its international borders and restart the economy, it’s easy to feel a false sense of security from the danger of the coronavirus. However, it’s important to understand, when countries reopen to save their economy, the fate of this pandemic shifted from government mandates to personal responsibility.
Therefore this is not the time to let our guard down, but to heed the personal responsibility to ourselves as well as the community to safeguard from the coronavirus.
The head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “This is not even close to being over. Although many countries have made some progress globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up. We’re all in this together and we’re all in this for the long haul. We have already lost so much but we cannot lose hope.”
He further added.”This is a moment for all of us to reflect on the progress we have made and the lessons we have learned, and to recommit ourselves to doing everything we can to save lives. Six months ago, none of us could have imagined how our world and our lives would be thrown into turmoil by this new virus.”
Corona pandemic related authorities, doctors, scientists, and government leaders alike have said that once herd immunity was achieved, the spread of the virus would be less of a threat.
The Maldives has only about 0.5% of its population infected with the coronavirus meaning that there is a long way to go before reaching herd community.
Herd immunity is reached when the majority of a given population — 70 to 90% — becomes immune to an infectious disease, either because they have become infected and recovered, or through vaccination.
But it will be a long time before a Covid-19 vaccine might be publicly available if one becomes effective and available at all. There is also no cure to the virus, which leaves personal behavior, like staying 6 feet away from others, including in social situations, and wearing a face mask; the only way to control this deadly pandemic.
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said that it is critical that we all take the personal responsibility to slow the transmission of Covid-19 and embrace the universal use of face coverings.
The Maldives has also restarted its economy this week by permitting more businesses to reopen and allowing citizens to go outside without a special permit, meaning that safeguarding from the virus is more of our responsibility now. Therefore we must make sure that we follow each and every guideline that HPA has instructed and be more vigilant in how we behave around the community.
