Covid-19 Precautions.

According to the NCOC, the government will lift the additional restrictions put in place to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 during the fourth wave. Given that progress has been marginal in the last few weeks-with the number of cases remaining close to the 3000 mark-there has not been a significant enough improvement to justify side-lining additional precautionary measures.

Currently, the NCOC reported 2988 cases in the last 24 hours. Furthermore, the positivity ratio now stands at 5.62 percent-still a relatively concerning rate. The non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) helped limit transmission but not at the rate at which they should have. The reality remains that more than 50 percent of the country's ventilators are occupied, 60 percent of oxygen beds are being used for critical patients and over 90,000 cases are active. These are figures that are hard to stomach when we understand that behind them, there is the suffering of countless patients and their family members. It does not make sense to lift the precautionary measures merely ten days after implementation; each policy needs time to have an effect and by fast-forwarding ahead, we are depriving ourselves of the progress we had the...