THE onset of the rainy season has brought with it a lot of joy especially for the farmers who have lived the last month or two in fear of poor harvest this farming season due to a possible drought.
This also takes away fears of imminent hunger due to the lack of sufficient food to go round for the close to 20 million Zambians.
But with the coming of the rains, also comes the drop in temperature from the near heat-wave to pretty low temperatures.
But unfortunately, as one relief in terms of security comes also arrives a spike in the numbers of fresh cases of the deadly coronavirus which we have lived with for a full two years now.
The daily statistics coming from the Ministry of Health are not quiet what anyone in Zambia wishes to see as the new cases are hitting a 1,000 mark without breaking a sweat.
This is an enviable situation Zambians can only blame themselves after dropping the guard when the temperatures rose with the country then going weeks without a new case.
But now as expected, the cases are on the rise and worse is the fact that there is a new variant of the virus called the omicron which is making the rounds, spreading faster than the Delta mutant which killed millions in the last wave.
Calls for citizens to go and get vaccinated has not received the desired response and it looks like most Zambians are still hung on the myths about the jab and its possible aftereffects.
We advise people to go and get vaccinated to avoid what Water Development and Sanitation Minister Mike Mposha warned by saying an uncontrollable rise in the number of new cases and a low vaccination percentage would only lead to measures like the closure of certain sectors like schools and business.
We all don’t want that and it is our plea to the citizens to always practice the five golden rules set out by the World Health Organisation and domesticated by the Ministry of Health and they include keeping social distance, masking up at all times and sanitising as regularly as possible among others.
Keeping with these golden rules would make Zambia a safer place for everyone.
It would be sad to see travel restrictions imposed. So before the country gets to these levels, it is better for each Zambian to take the necessary steps of preventing the spread of the virus.
So as we celebrate the coming of the rains, get ready for Christmas and the coming of the New Year, we have to remember that we are living in strange times which call for a change in habits to be able to see and enjoy the harvest that these rains will bring.
Let’s all stay safe.