June 29, 2021
BY MOHAMED M. SESAY (LUCKY)
Not until the virus mutated in to a third alongside the intensification of the New Indian variant of the virus, the Courier has never been in such engulfment of COVID-19 phobia since the country recorded its index case on the 31st of March 2020.
The frightening and high-flow of daily records of the covid-19 pandemic, has really necessitated the government to ignore the marshmallow approach, and introduce the toughest approach in order to curtail the unprecedented transmission rate of the virus.
The reintroduction of the night curfew, the three days lockdown, the inter-district lockdown and the banning of flights particularly from Indian, must be very timely and appropriate of which government must implement instantaneously before “wata pas garie” (before the country faces the most regrettable situation).
I am not oblivious of the inimical economic instability this lockdown may cause to business entities especially to our petty traders who survive on daily basis, and to the government by extension.
I am equally aware that government has to spend billions of Leones for any stage of a three days lockdown imposed by providing food stuff for the less privileged and so on.
However, we should be concerned that the virus has taken an aggressive approach and therefore, an aggressive response is now necessary.
The initial government approach when the country recorded its index case on 31st of March 2020 by declaring state of Public Health Emergency followed by subsequent three days nationwide lockdowns and the inter-district lockdown, actually yielded dividend in the fight against the pandemic.
That first proactive approach by government made Sierra Leone to be acknowledged as the center of admiration by the international community and superficially classed the country as a safe haven in terms of our response towards the virus.
The Courier therefore has the belief that if that initial vim and vigor coupled with its relevant stratagems is replicated in this third wave and the Indian variant, Sierra Leone will again achieve normalcy in the fight against the pandemic.
The situation has become more worrisome when the NaCOVERC Spoke person Solomon Jamiru posted on Sunday the 27th of June 2021 that the country’s COVID-19 response is at a critical phase with 7 deaths recorded in the last 48 hours. He further implanted fear on people when he said that the 34 Military hospital cannot accommodate more cases and country’s healthcare system isn’t prepared if cases get critical.
Seventy-five (75) positive COVID-19 cases were recorded on that very Sunday out of 556 samples analyzed in the last 24 hours. Western Area Urban recorded fifty-three (53) cases and Western Rural twenty-two (22) cases. By the critical look of things, the Courier has identified Western Area to be the epicenter of the pandemic which therefore, deserves to be barricaded from other Districts with every momentousness and alacrity.
This may help someone who may be hearing about the Delta or Indian Variant for the first time. Like the “UK variant” B.1.1.7 and “South African variant” B.1.351, the “Indian variant” B.1.617 is another variation of the virus that causes COVID-19.
It was first detected in India last October and has since spread to more than forty (40) other countries including Australia. Experts have identified three subtypes, or sub-lineages of the “Indian” variant: B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2, and B.1.617.3 and each sub-lineage are slightly different, but all have spiked protein mutations that have been associated with increased transmissibility.
There is also some emerging evidence suggesting that the symptoms of the new variant are a little different to the “classic” coronavirus symptoms as fever, cough, and loss of smell or taste, headaches, a sore throat, and a runny nose are more common with the new variant.
I know that the economic phobia is still fresh on our minds but it should not serve as a recipe for us not imposing ban on flight coming into the country.
The new importance of the Delta or otherwise called the Indian variant and the mutated effect of the virus have a hundred percent possibility that it was imported in the country inbound passengers. One may want to ask that the two female samples tested which eventually confirmed trace of the Indian variant came from where? I think NaCOVERC is better placed to answer this question. If really government wants to be very serious in mitigating or better put, eradicating the terrifying transmission rate of the virus, then I think the timely ban of flight in the country could do us the greatest good than the greatest harm. Many countries that have experienced the new Indian variant have either cancelled flights from entering those countries, or specifically banning flights that might have an Indian trace or coming from India directly.
I want to reiterate that with the emergence of the third wave and the Indian variant, a proactive measure could best fit us than a reactive action.
Aggressive measures could still help us have a U-turn in the daily double digits of COVID-19 novel virus.
We should not let our most envied approach to the fight against the pandemic at the initial stage be described as a mere braggadocio.
I have known Sierra Leone to be a country full of resilience people.
Thus; we can do it anyhow and survive it. Let’s come out from our comfort zones and do the needful by taking extraordinary measures in this extraordinary time of fighting this strange variant of the virus. The massive inoculation campaign mandating people to take the jab or risk not entering public premises is somehow satisfactory.
However, the bulk of our effort should be on cutting down the chain of transmission rate especially when the hypothetical five hundred thousand doses of the covid-19 vaccine is very infinitesimal to service a population of about seven million people. Someone may want to say deduct those below the ages of thirty years. Even if we do, the modicum rate of the vaccine could just mean that dropping a pinch of salt into a mighty ocean that will only have an inconsequential consequence.
I could still recall during the Ebola plague when our actions and inactions landed us to an unforgettable experience. When the right step that was supposed to be taken was never taken initially, the negligence resulted to thousands of fatalities and ravaged the country’s epileptic economy and social life.
By the looks of the first response towards the coronavirus in March 2020, it is very lucid that we learnt from that grave mistake we made during Ebola epidemic.
Thus, banning flight from India, locking down of the Western Area (the epicenter of the virus), and possibly the three days lockdown have gained their usefulness which needs to be discussed at the covid-19 presidential taskforce level. I will end this edition by making a special appeal to all my wider readership and fellow Sierra Leoneans to fully masked up at all times, observe the social and physical distancing protocols, observe the regular hand washing etiquette, and abide by all other covid-19 preventive measures introduced by NaCOVERC and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Stay safe!