Covid-19 has outsmarted us and has evaded the lockdown – Gift of the Givers

Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman says the Covid-19 outbreak has evaded the lockdown and that it might be time to lock at a different approach, suggesting provinces and areas that are substantially Covid-19-free should resume all economic activity.

He said: “With the lockdown, a lot of people have started losing their jobs [and] gender-based violence increased because a lot of people are at home. Those suffering from alcohol, drugs, and smoke withdrawal – there’s anger, there are mood changes and a whole class of people started suffering because the focus was only on one idea on dealing with the coronavirus,” IOL reported.

With the increasing number of people needing food parcels, there is a growing number of this too in the middle class.

“Therefore we have to look [at whether] are we doing the right thing now.

“All provinces and areas which are substantially Covid-19-free should go into full-scale economic activity once the health authorities are certain of minimal infection in those areas,” said Sooliman.

He proposed that miners returning to work in low-risk provinces should be phased in but housed at their workplaces for 14-21 days before returning to the communities around the mines once they all have been screened and tested.

“Travel to the 10 high-risk areas should be restricted, with full protective measures taken.”

The Gift of the Givers founder said it was time to recruit and pay for additional healthcare workers to be deployed across the 10 hot spots in the country.

“This is dignity without seeming to be charity. We should be on an accelerated mission to save families, individually or collectively. Every business that finds its feet has the potential to increase job creation,” said Sooliman.

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