Watching and listening to three Ministers on Botswana Television on Sunday where they had called a press conference to address the newly-discovered Covid-19 variant called Omicron, they seemed to downplay the massive impact of the variant in the overall fight against Covid-19 pandemic. The Minster of Health and Wellness Edwin Dikoloti in particular was at pains to say the pandemic shouldn’t be classified as a geo-political issue. It is one thing to say the pandemic shouldn’t be classified as such and the other to say what obtains on the ground. The fact of the matter is that Covid-19pandemic is indeed a geo-political issue on the basis that African countries in particular and others in general have been complaining and justifiably so, about vaccine discrimination. Developed countries that manufacture and distribute vaccines have chosen to satisfy the demands of their countries first before distributing to the less developed countries like Botswana. The developed countries have decided to restrict or prohibit air travel from countries like Botswana. This is geo-politics! I am not implying by any stretch of the imagination that Covid-19 geo-politics should be condoned but that these Ministers shouldn’t suggest it should be treated as if it does not exist. So why do I say Government appears not to have learnt the hard way about the mutative nature of Covid-19 pandemic?
It is because hindsight is the best teacher. If I take a trip down memory lane, it will be remembered how Government committed grave errors in terms of the slow response to the emergence of the Delta variant that reportedly was imported into the country by travellers from India after the variant was discovered in December 2020. It was widely reported in the media across all platforms how travellers of Indian origin were sloppily processed particularly at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport to enter the country without first satisfying the mandatory quarantine/isolation requirements. It was reported they either presented fake Covid-19 negative documents or were released to the public without satisfying they were indeed negative. After entering the country and particularly those who were returning residents following the Christmas/New Year holiday break, these individuals were back at their duty stations where they mingled with their Batswana colleagues. As a consequence media reports further posited, the returning Indian residents passed on the Delta variant to their local colleagues and by extension, to the rest of the population. The obvious fact is that had the Indian travellers been properly handled from the point of entry, the spread of the Delta variant wouldn’t have done so as quickly and with devastating results as it did. This was not helped by the intense travelling across the country by citizens during the same Christmas/New Year period the result of which was the exponential increase in Covid-19 cases with respect to infections, hospital admissions and fatalities.
With the above background in mind, another variant called Omicron has emerged and almost at the same period as did the Delta. The country is out of the State of Public Emergency and with the festive mood upon us, the new variant is bound to spoil such mood in terms of Covid-19 numbers increasing. Indications from the music festivals held of late show beyond any reasonable doubt that these events are potential super spreaders particularly that revellers appear to be ignoring the three key Covid-19 safety measures of wearing face masks, keeping social distance from each other. Sanitising or washing hands frequently is evidently not being observed given the behaviour of revellers. So even long before the new virus was discovered and with the Delta variant still in our midst, the possibility of numbers increasing post the festive holidays could not be dismissed. The importers of this variant are four diplomats whose countries of origin have not been disclosed on the flimsy reasoning by Dikoloti seemingly, that this will amount to the geo-politicisation of the pandemic. At the time of writing this article, more than ten people had tested positive to the new variant inevitably suggesting this trend is bound to increase as did with the Delta. With 14 of these cases from the Greater Gaborone, Serowe/Palapye and Kgatleng areas, it is fair to say the variant may very well have been transmitted to other areas in the country.
The tragic laissez-faire attitude and conduct one can deduce from the ill-fated press conference is that government seems to be significantly relying on relaying the message of self-discipline in so far as adherence to all Covid-19 safety protocols. While it is correct to harp on and relay the massage, the practicalities on the ground suggest otherwise. I had expected the three Ministers to tell the nation what plans government intends to put in motion over and above what is already known so that the country does not repeat the very tragic situations she has gone through with the result of what happened around July/August this year. If it is agreed the virus is quickly transmitted largely by inhibited human movements, it should be equally agreed curtailing such movement should be the first option. Whether we like it or not, we should come to the sad reality that our movements will continually be restricted as long as the pandemic remains active. The implications of curtailing people’s movements are well known and cannot therefore be ignored. The obvious implication will be the inability of citizens and residents who are not catered for by government to earn a living from their daily chores and activities. It has demonstrably become clear some of these activities are super spreaders of the virus where government should watch them with keen interest.
Through questions asked in parliament, government has been struggling to demonstrate it has learnt the hard way from the past episodes. To this day and almost two years after Covid-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, oxygen levels required for a Covid-19 patient are yet to be realised. Oxygen-related tenders are still being processed while the Covid-19 Relief Fund has been obliterated with directly appointed service providers to supply test kids and personal protective equipment dismally failing to do so. As a result, frontline workers in the form of nurses and doctors are seriously ill-equipped to effectively and efficiently deal with Covid-19 situations and circumstances while improvements to public health facilities largely remain a laughing stock. Nothing fundamental has been done by parliament to substantially amend the Public Health Act such that when push comes to shove, the Director of Public Health promptly acts. As it is and provided I am correct, parliament has to be reconvened in order to grant the State of Public Emergency.
On the basis of the foregoing, it is reasonable to conclude government has not learnt the hard way in dealing with Covid-19 pandemic. It is no longer tenable to say we are still learning about the virus. Scientists have long said the virus will mutate as long as it is active. Whether it is Delta or Omicron, the defence largely remains the same. And that is to prevent transmission from one person to the other by religiously adhering to safety protocols. This is where government should be developing plans more than she has done whose objective is to strictly ensure citizens religiously adhere to the said protocols. Government should have foreseen the consequences of not limiting numbers to music festivals when the economy was opened. In fact, this point was constantly and consistently raised by some members of the entertainment industry themselves. The latest turn of events should therefore not surprise the powers that be. Hindsight is not a good teacher to government. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise as always. Judge for Yourself!
‘No one is safe until everyone is safe.’
