KT edit: No end to pandemic

Covid-19 is not just any viral infection that leaves our bodies after we test negative for its trace. It can have a long-lasting impact on our health

We are all trapped in a pandemic spiral, unable to make peace with the new normal and reset our ways of life so as to slow down the rate of transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 viral infection. Lockdowns and movement restrictions during the initial phase of the pandemic helped but slowly fatigue set in. People in many pockets of the world had started taking refuge in a belief that eventually a majority of us would be infected before herd immunity kicks in. And now as pharmaceutical firms are showing confidence in the efficacy of a few Covid vaccines, more complacency could set it, making us go round in circles and probably leading us on to make the same mistakes that have brought us this far.

It’s been a year since the first case of Covid-19 infection was reported in Wuhan, China. Since then, more than 55 million people have been infected, and more than 1.3 million have lost their lives. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the vaccine will not be enough to stop the pandemic, as have other experts in the field of medicine. Prof Ugur Sahin, co-founder of BioNTech, has said the impact of the new Covid vaccine would kick in significantly over summer and life should be back to normal by next winter. Until then, our best defence will be our masks, social distancing, and adhering to Covid safety protocols. Covid-19 is not just any viral infection that leaves our bodies after we test negative for its trace. It can have a long-lasting impact on our health. Let’s be mindful of this, and not lower our guard just yet.