Protecting yourself from Coronavirus during the lockdown

How to make sure that you don’t contract Coronavirus at home

Midnight of Thursday, 26 March was the beginning of the 21-day national lockdown that was declared by President, Cyril Ramaphosa. Until 16 April, South Africans will have to stay put in their homes. This was implemented to reduce the spread and the number of Coronavirus cases in the country.

Essential service providers including laboratories, pharmacies, banks, supermarkets, healthcare providers and petrol stations will stay open during the lockdown to make sure that the people’s needs are taken care of. The essential workers play a vital role in making sure that the cases of Coronavirus decrease.

To protect themselves against the virus, essential workers are provided with face masks, gloves and hand sanitizers which are must-haves at this time. They will have to carry a permit indicating that they are classified as essential workers during the lockdown.

For those who will be in their homes have to adhere to the rules put in place during the lockdown. It is of paramount importance that people put these rules into good use as they were placed with everyone’s health in mind.

Protecting yourself from the virus even when indoors is very important to keep your health at its best. Washing your hands regularly and keeping your hands off your face are some of the precautionary measures people should keep in mind.

It has already become a norm for some people to wash their hands, use hand sanitizers and keep their health as top priority. Tumelo Malapa, who is one of those who take care of their health explained that it is important to take care of your health.

“We as South Africans should try to cut down the number of cases that are increasing daily by taking the tips that they are showing to us on TV or on social media like washing our hands regularly,” said Malapa.

It is rather hard for people to stay indoors especially in our townships as socials are a regular activity. Therefore the minister of Police, Bheki Cele has revealed the rules and measures put by the police to enforce the virus www.gov.za/gov.za/speeches/minister-bheki-cele-unpacks-measures-police-enforce-coronavirus-covid-19-lockdown-25-mar

The rules and measures put by the government are to make people stay in their homes and reduce the spread of the virus.

A concerned resident of Soweto, Tukelo Mofokeng expressed his opinion about the lockdown and mentioned that it will do great for the country. “I am not an essential worker and I will not be travelling to work until April 16 because I have opted to work from home. I want to be part of the good ones and reduce the spread of the virus.”

“The government did a great job by implementing the lockdown, it will do great for the country as a whole,” continued Mofokeng.

However, there are some who believe that the lockdown will affect them in a negative way. Morongwa Malatji, a student at the University of South Africa (UNISA) stated that although she understands that the virus is dangerous, she also feels that the lockdown will be a setback.

“This 21-day lockdown affects my life so much because now we don’t know how we will work with our exams. We are not going to write our exams and where are we going to submit our assignments because most of us submit our assignments via the post,” said Malatji.