B-Metro COMMENT: Lockdown saves lives

It is hard. It is painful. But it is very much necessary.

To flatten the coronavirus curve, sacrifices have to be made and there is no greater sacrifice than going on lockdown.

While many are complaining that the lockdown is discriminatory, the truth of the matter is that everyone is affected, including the companies and institutions that provide essential services.

The government is not clueless and it is definitely not mad. Locking down the country affects the economy negatively in a big way, but it saves lives and for now that is all that matters.

People should not see the lockdown as a form of imprisonment.

Merriam Webster are right when they say lockdown stands for a “temporary condition” imposed by authorities, for example, during the outbreak of an epidemic disease, “in which people are required to stay in their homes and refrain from or limit activities outside the home involving public contact”.

This lockdown is not an attempt by government to destroy small business and the informal market.

It is not the introduction of a police state as suggested by those who are in perennial opposition of every policy that the government crafts.

Yes, it is very true that the lockdown affects our way of life and has a negative impact especially on the vulnerable, but in the long run it benefits the nation as it reduces the spread of the virus.

Without the lockdown hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives will be lost. This will devastate the economy and the nation and the impact will be felt for decades.

We can recover quickly the losses that are caused by the lockdown, letting nature take its course, as some advocate, will ruin generations.

By bringing Covid-19 under control, the lockdown will pave the way to a faster economic recovery as people will feel more comfortable about resuming normal activities.

The good thing is that our lockdown is not a total lockdown, it is a targeted or proportional approach of restrictions which not only mitigates the risk of infection but balances other concerns about the economy, health and education.

While we wait for a vaccine that will surely eradicate the coronavirus, we have to take stringent measures to save lives and the lockdown is the best of them.

But as we lockdown we must not forget other measures that have helped keep infections low for so long – social distancing, hands washing and wearing masks.

Stay safe Zimbabwe.

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