Category: Festus Eriye

Festus Eriye

 

How quickly an expression becomes hackneyed! For months people have spoken of a ‘new normal’ as it relates to how we live in the age of coronavirus. Today, handwashing, sanitisers, face masks and social distancing are no longer novel; they are the norm.

But due to the physical and psychological devastation wrought by COVID-19 we can still speak of a ‘new normal,’ as the pandemic appears to driving some public officials and ordinary folk to increasingly bizarre conduct.

Denial, illogical thinking, impunity and sheer bloody-mindedness are fast becoming our ‘new normal’.

Last Wednesday, unidentified gunmen attacked the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Lokoja, Kogi State, and disrupted a COVID-19 press conference.

The hospital had scheduled the event to demand a coronavirus screening centre as well as address challenges faced by health workers in the state where Governor Yahaya Bello and his aides persist in denying the virus exists.

The attackers who operated undisturbed for 30 minutes, shot sporadically to disperse the meeting. They harassed health workers and patients – dispossessing them of laptops and vital documents.

No one expressly accused them of being behind the attack, still the Kogi State government rushed out a statement claiming a “scuffle” had occurred between staff of the hospital and aggrieved relatives of patients.”

A scuffle? The illogical explanation triggered more questions than it answered. When did displeased relatives of patients begin shooting up hospitals in protest? Why did they need to snatch laptops and documents from workers if they were merely concerned about treatment of their relatives? Why would ‘patients’ target the COVID-19 press briefing?

One week after the brazen attack on unarmed hospital staff and sick people, no arrest has been made. Even more astonishing is the absence of greater public outrage as if – you guessed it – it’s the ‘new normal.’

A day before the incident Bello – who isn’t noted for tolerating dissent – stated that Nigerians were being forced to accept the virus’ exists. He claimed it was created to “shorten the lifestyle of the people”, asking residents not to accept what he called “cut and paste COVID-193 .

But the governor isn’t alone in this thinking. His colleague in Cross River, Ben Ayade, takes a similar position – merely wrapping it in pseudo-scientific lingo.

However, at the weekend the bottom fell out of the state’s posturing after the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital announced five of their staff had tested positive for COVID-19. The state government is yet to acknowledge the fly that just dropped in the ointment.

It’s been the week when the virus laid siege to Government Houses. Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, tested positive, as did the wife of his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom and Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo.

Akeredolu has managed a swift recovery in a matter of days. But while he was in isolation, all manner of mischief was being stirred up by his estranged deputy, Agboola Ajayi, who despite quitting the ruling APC clings on to his office.

The governor, for his part, refused to cede power to anyone – forcing Ajayi to issue a 21-day ultimatum asking him to do the needful or face unspecified constitutional processes.

Thankfully, Akeredolu survived the scare. But if anything had happened to him, the deputy who refused to quit would have become governor – no matter how bitter a pill it would been for APC to swallow.

I hear a mischievous bird whispering in my ear that this prospect could have been the turbo-charged immunity-booster that aided the speedy recovery of Mr. Governor!

It’s been a while since someone bashed China over coronavirus. US President Donald Trump perhaps distracted by the Black Lives Matter protests, hasn’t followed through on threats to make the Asian superpower pay for allegedly unleashing the virus on the world.

While he dithers, twenty-five Nigerians have taken matters into their hands. They filed suit against the Peoples Republic of China before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court over its alleged culpability in the spread of the novel Coronavirus. They are demanding $200 billion compensation for the effect of the pandemic on their livelihoods.

The legal battle is to be fought by a team of 11 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and other lawyers led by Professor Epiphany Azinge. Who knows, we may yet see Chinese President Xi Jinping in the dock in some Abuja courthouse before this class action is over.

In another part of Abuja, a bizarre drama played out on Monday. Acting EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, was arrested by Directorate of State Services (DSS) agents right in traffic and hauled down to Aso Rock to face a presidential panel probing him over corruption allegations. The charges were levelled by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.

Magu was formally suspended yesterday. Speaking about his client’s travails, Oluwatoyin Ojaomo, lawyer to the embattled EFCC boss said: “The forces behind corruption are so powerful; they are more powerful than Covid-19.” Given that over 535,000 fatalities have been recorded across the globe since the pandemic began, that is saying something.

COVID-19 has been called all sorts of things but nothing more derisory than when Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro dismissed it as “just a little flu.”

Yesterday, the “little flu” got its revenge: the president tested positive. Under his denial and mismanagement, Brazil with over 65,000 dead is now second only to the US in fatalities.

A final word about the gradual reopening happening across the country despite increase in daily infections. This week schools resumed partially. Airports and markets are open, while inter-state travel has been unlocked. It remains a mystery why churches and mosques cannot reopen in Lagos, Ogun and few others – even if it’s just for once a week meetings. Surely, they can’t be worse at spreading the infection than these other places.

 

NOTE: Last week I indicated I would be taking occasional breaks from doing this diary to reflect on other issues. But I have received feedback suggesting I shouldn’t be in a rush to truncate this chronicle as the virus is still very much with us. Still, there would be weeks when I address other things and then return to the diary thereafter.

Festus ERIYE

 

WHAT is it about the novel coronavirus that makes it shameful? Many who come down with it prefer denial – except overwhelmed by symptoms. Some get tested but list fake phone numbers and addresses so they can’t be traced!

I was told of two families who virtually went to war after an individual who knew a neighbour was exhibiting obvious COVID-19 symptoms, secretly called NCDC and gave them an address where the sick man could be found.

After he was evacuated, his family traced the whistleblower and a full scale physical confrontation ensued. Why did he call NCDC they wanted to know? They didn’t care whether his action was a humanitarian gesture that saved others in the block of flats from being infected. They were instead angry he had exposed a family secret that was better hidden!

Stigma is a major factor fuelling the spread of the virus as more infected persons hide their status as though they have leprosy.

It’s even worse when infection becomes fatal. It’s as if death by COVID-19 is more woeful than death by other means. This past week, the demise of two high profile Nigerians, and the manner in which their passing was announced, captured this point.

For weeks reports had indicated former Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, had coronavirus and was being treated at the same Lagos hospital that handled President Muhammadu Buhari’s former Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari’s, case.

Following his death, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, issued a transparent statement that revealed he died of multiple organ failure arising from complications caused by COVID-19.

At the weekend, Kogi State Chief Judge, Nasir Ajanah, died at an isolation centre in Gwagwalada, Abuja. The government’s announcement was just an acknowledgment of his passing, but two days later Governor Yahaya Bello filled the missing gaps.

He declared emphatically that the judge’s death wasn’t related to COVID-19. We must then assume he was being treated for dysentery at the isolation centre!

The governor who keeps insisting his state is virus free – despite the testimonies of doctors and the NCDC, suggested that certain persons for “political and mischief purposes” were behind claims that Ajanah’s death was caused by the virus.

“Do not give in to fear and evil of the issues of COVID-19… it is a disease that has been imported, propagated and forced on the people for no just cause,” he said.

“Nothing kills faster than fear. I urge you all not to accept cut and paste as COVID-19. It is only out to create fear, panic, orchestrated to reduce and shorten the lifespan of the people.

“Whether medical experts and scientists believe it or not, COVID-19 is out to shorten the lifespans of the people. It is a disease propagated by force, for Nigerians to accept.”

Put simply, the governor is saying when it comes to health and medicine, believe what a politician tells you over any doctor or scientist’s opinion.

There’s just something about the Nigerian gubernatorial seat that inflates a man’s ego such that he wakes up every morning thinking he’s suddenly an expert on everything from archaeology to epidemiology. But nothing is more embarrassing, or deadlier, than folly unrecognised.

Now, from the unbelieving to the converted, there’s still not much to cheer. World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Monday warned that the “worst is yet to come” from the pandemic if governments around the world don’t adopt the right strategies.

He said: “Although many countries have made some progress, globally the pandemic is actually speeding up. Some countries have now experienced a resurgence of cases as they start to reopen their economies and societies.”

A similar message is being pushed in Nigeria by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 which, while acknowledging that the outbreak is not even close to its peak, continues its strategy of gradual easing.

This week, the farcical inter-state travel ban was lifted. While it lasted, people were crisscrossing the country by paying off compromised security agents at checkpoints. Now, it’s official – people can move again. The fear, however, is the virus would travel with them.

With infections not slowing down in the epicentre of Lagos, it appears the dreaded and unpopular lockdown might be back any moment now. The NCDC says 60% of cases in the country are found in just 18 of its 774 local government areas.

It now plans ‘precision lockdown’ in these localities. Many of these places are in Lagos – meaning the return of city-wide shutdown through the back door. The last such exercise was largely ineffective because of widespread non-compliance.

Up north, Kano continues to project a picture of progress with infections seeming to have plateaued. But a recent report by popular American website www.thedailybeast.com titled “Nigeria’s Gravediggers Bury Secret COVID Victims Every Day,” claims strange deaths haven’t ceased.

It quotes gravediggers at the Abbatuwa Cemetry as saying in normal times they dug two graves a day. But something unusual began happening in April that saw them excavating up to 40 per day! The numbers are not that high anymore: now they only bury 11 persons daily.

The fatalities may not all be COVID-related, but a Federal Government investigation of strange deaths in Kano found that of 979 cases in April and May, 60% were caused by coronavirus. Using those same parameters means official figures are still incredibly rosy.

Let’s end on the note of celebrities behaving badly. After the brouhaha surrounding Naira Marley’s recent concert at the Jabi Lake Mall, Abuja, you would have thought others have learnt a lesson.

Another star – D’Banj – is in the news after performing at a crowded party in Abuja where attendees ignored social distancing rules. Judging by the precedence of the Marley incident, no one should expect FCT authorities to make an example of a celebrity. Especially, not one who popularised the exclamation – ‘File!’ – Yoruba for ‘leave it alone’ or ‘drop it!’

 

 

NOTE: I have written these diaries for 13 unbroken weeks. But going forward they would appear intermittently – as occasion demands – affording me room to cast an eye on other issues of moment.

 

By Festus Eriye

Through the ages, science and religion have largely travelled different roads: one works with evidence as a basis for establishing things, the other demands faith as the trigger for action. Whenever their paths intersect, fireworks inevitably follow.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, agents of state working with what scientists tell them, have rolled out a stream of mitigation measures that have set them on collision course with church leaders.

While some pastors have gone with the flow, claiming the Scriptures command obedience of laws made by secular authorities, the more militant like David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel, Chris Okotie of Household of God and Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy, have pushed the envelope to the point of revolt.

Oyedepo argues it doesn’t make sense keeping churches shut while choked markets are permitted to operate several times a week.

For his part, Oyakhilome points out Jesus laid hands on lepers and healed them. He mocks church leaders who are tolerating the restrictions, or have encouraged people to wear gloves before laying hands on the sick, as having renounced everything Christ taught about healing.

It is a disagreement that’s mostly playing out verbally. A couple of pastors have been arrested for breaching rules against holding services. But last weekend, things got physical in Akwa Ibom State.

On Sunday, government officials sealed off the Christ Embassy Church, Nung Akpa Ime branch in Uyo, accusing its leaders of attacking members of the state’s Coronavirus Compliance Monitoring Team.

Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, Secretary to State Government and Chairman of the COVID-19 Management Committee said pastors and other members allegedly involved in the incident would be prosecuted.

Now, the church is fighting back with a law suit accusing the government of unlawfully arresting and detaining Pastor Emmanuel Effiong and a videographer, Gabriel Ekpa. It denies its members attacked state officials – arguing instead that they were the ones on the receiving end of physical assault.

This case could have been a turning point if it went beyond demand for release of the detained and enforcement of their human rights.

Right from the beginning of the lockdown, people have accepted government actions meekly without challenging their legality or constitutionality.

It is an interesting paradox that a people who can be quite litigious in almost every area haven’t sought to interrogate the legality of certain actions. A case in point is the recent demolition by the Rivers State government of two hotels in Port Harcourt for violating lockdown rules.

In the US and several others, pressure groups and some church leaders have fought everything from lockdowns to wearing of face masks in the law courts.

While many admit the pandemic is real, they are unwilling to accept anything that infringes their freedom to associate or worship – even when such restrictions are supposedly for their wellbeing.

Nigerians may not be trooping to the courts, but many by their actions are executing some form of protest against government measures. It is an attitude which Boss Mustapha, head of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19, warns is reversing gains made so far.

At a press conference this week, he painted a grim picture of how non-compliance with protocols is fuelling a spike in cases. On April 16 there were only 442 cases in the country. This rose to 5,621 infections a month later and tripled to 17,148 cases by June 16.

This week, Nigeria marked a morbid milestone – over 500 deaths had been recorded and confirmed cases are now in excess of 21,000.

But these may be middling numbers if the projection of Dr. Patrick Dakum, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Human Virology of Nigeria, is anything to go by.

He warns there could be over 100,000 cases of coronavirus by September if state governors don’t take responsibility in tackling the spread of the virus.

People may not be quaking in their boots because of these statistics, but their leaders are certainly sitting up and taking notice. Over the weekend, Rivers State locked down Bonny Local Government and Onne community with the threat of a state-wide shutdown if cases spiral out of control.

Up north, Kaduna State issued a similar threat. In Ondo, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, raised the alarm that the state was approaching an emergency following the discovery of 80 new cases within a week.

In Imo, the picture is even more dramatic with 14 members of the House of Assembly laid low by coronavirus – that is fifty percent of the 27-member legislative chamber.

One fallout of this pandemic has been an increase in violence and sexual assault against women and minors during the lockdown. To that ugly list you can now add a rise in drug abuse.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (rtd) says as drugs of choice became scarce, there was increased experimentation with newer concoctions.

But here’s a bit of good news to roundup this week’s diary. Last Friday, Nigerian Universities’ Scientists, under the aegis of Covid-19 Research Group, announced the discovery of a vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus. Don’t go dancing in the streets just yet – we don’t know if it works. Leader of the team, Dr Oladipo Kolawole, says the product wouldn’t be unveiled for another 18 months.

In other cheery news beyond these shores, it is reported that Britain’s coronavirus outbreak could have died out by July 13 – with daily confirmed cases dropping to zero, a study has claimed.

The study didn’t estimate how many cases will still be circulating in the community and only projected the number of confirmed infections.

Such reports hold out the prospect that the Nigerian trajectory won’t remain sky high. Several weeks back, many feared the worst about Kano, instead it has witnessed a collapse in numbers of new infections. Perhaps this is the true picture – meaning measures put in place are working.

But it could also be the government playing games with test samples, only time will tell. Until all is revealed, we can only look forward with hope to a truly post-Covid era in Nigeria.

 

Festus Eriye

Even a deadly virus has its uses. This week, Coronavirus found political application in the raging crisis within the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Governor Godwin Obaseki, fighting for his political life, wants indirect primaries used for picking the gubernatorial flagbearer. A technocrat parachuted into politics by APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, he’s not really connected with party apparatchiks who have spent the last few years chafing under his accusation that he won’t share the state’s commonwealth with a few powerful people.

The indirect system favours him because the bulk of delegates would be his handpicked appointees.

Oshiomhole and his allies, on the other hand, have settled for direct primaries – the tried and tested formula for longsuffering cadres to exact their pound of flesh from governors who have become too big for their britches.

Everything has been falling nicely into place for the chairman and his supporters. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made it clear it would only deal with the hierarchy in Abuja over matters related to the nomination. That leaves the governor where his foes want him for now.

But Obaseki is a fighter who isn’t going to take his humbling in his stride. If he’s going to go, it would be like Samson who pulled down the temple on the Philistines in one of the oldest examples of mutual destruction known to man.

With him it’s been one week one stunt. Determined to frustrate the bid to oust him through direct primaries, he quickly signed a gazette banning all public gatherings of more than 20 persons in the state – except at the 5,000 capacity Ogbe Stadium in Benin-City over which he has power to permit or deny use.

The measure is ostensibly to stem the spread of Covid-19, but no one is fooled that this is about the people’s health.

Examples abound showing that at the height of the outbreak between March and May all manner of elections – with mitigating measures in place – took place across the world.

A report by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems shows that municipal, parliamentary and general elections held during this period in at least 12 countries as far afield as Israel, Burundi, Moldova and Benin. But this comparison shouldn’t matter, after all people have pointed out that the strain of Covid-19 in Nigeria is unique and different from that in Europe and the Americas!

Our governors are not the most subtle lot and they are not easily embarrassed.

As part of their contribution towards checking the pandemic, they proposed banning inter-state travel. But last week a crowd of them in billowing agbadas hopped from Lagos to Abuja – not unduly concerned how their conduct looked with the ban in place.

You could argue that as chiefs of state in their domains, they enjoy a certain level of exemption. That would have been acceptable if the object of their travels was health or other important matters. Rather, it was in furtherance of the political agenda of one of the parties to the power play in Edo.

It just makes it awkward when they have to act tough against, or lecture, ordinary citizens following their example of crisscrossing state lines with a ban in place.

Still speaking of governors, Abia’s Okezie Ikpeazu became the latest high profile figure to contract Coronavirus. He had declared not too long ago that the virus won’t make a landing in his axis because it was the only state mentioned in the Bible! Clearly, no one waved chapter and verse in the face of the virus.

Last Saturday, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 marked 100 days of its management of the outbreak with Health Minister, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, warning that even at three percent, the death rate was still very high.

A day after his remarks, government confirmed what many had long suspected: 60% of 979 cases from the ‘strange deaths’ saga recorded in Kano State over five weeks were actually Covid-19-related.

Factoring in the Kano fatalities with those in neighbouring Bauchi and Jigawa, we may well have had in excess of 1,000 deaths nationwide. The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) records still list 361. So what’s the correct position of loss attributable to this virus?

Last weekend, #BringBackOurLives got a bit of reaction with churches and mosques reopening in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and in many states. But with cases in FCT, Lagos and Kano nudging 8,000 out of the national total of 12,801, many had reasons to be grumpy.

The PTF which under sustained pressure from clerics grudgingly acquiesced to the opening of worship centres, was quick to moan about the breaching of agreed safety protocols in several states where giddy worshippers simply reverted to business as usual.

For their part, some religious leaders were not exactly jumping for joy at the conditional reopening. Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Citadel Global Community Church referenced Noah in the ark to insist that the doors of his church would remain firmly shut, until he got the go-ahead from on high.

The even more colourful Pastor Chris Okotie of the Household of God Church totally rejected the guidelines rolled out by the Lagos State government – denouncing what he saw as an attempt by the secular to prescribe order of worship to God as “abomination of desolation.”

Speaking of the abominable, the Anambra State government reported a spike in rapes following the Covid-19 lockdown. Director of Child Welfare Services in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Nkechi Anazodo, says that before now they only had 32 cases, but over 80 have been recorded in recent weeks.

More shocking is the fact that many of the cases were fathers violating their own daughters – some less than 12 years old. There’s even the prospect of under-reporting as many victims were threatened with death if they spoke up. Perhaps the lockdown is one explanation for the recent rash of rapes.

No doubt many Nigerians are weary of Covid-19, but there’s very little good news coming from those managing the pandemic. The PTF says rather than abating, it’s only warming up for take-off. So, buckle up for the bumpy ride ahead!

 

Festus Eriye

 

IT is not called novel for nothing. Many months after it was identified in Wuhan, China, the best minds in science are still trying to understand a virus that’s always one step ahead of human knowledge.

It is humbling hearing famous doctors, and the best scientists, repeat that there’s so much about this disease we don’t know, therefore necessitating caution in the way it is handled.

Everyone is experimenting – even politicians for whom the virus has dropped like a hideous fly in the electoral ointment. US President Donald Trump, for one, has gone from just advocating the efficacy of the unproven hydroxychloroquine, to actually gobbling ‘a pill a day’ as prophylaxis.

Here in Nigeria, tardiness of conventional medical practice in providing a cure has caused many to push government to embrace alternatives like herbal medicine.

Always on the lookout for something new, they have embraced the so-called Madagascan herbal mixture that was supposedly so effective that it healed all on the island who contracted Covid-19, with no fatalities. It helped that the island country’s president has mounted a vigorous campaign touting the brew, selling it as his favourite tonic.

Now, by popular demand, the magic potion has landed on these shores by the circuitous route of Guinea Bissau. But trust President Muhammadu Buhari to be a spoilsport. The mixture, he has warned, wouldn’t be dispensed to thirsty Nigerians until it has passed a rigorous scientific examination!

President Andry Rajoelina swears the so-called ‘Covid-Organics’ works despite never being subjected to clinical trials. He has done a good job of marketing it by pushing buttons that resonate in a world held spellbound by conspiracy theories.

“What if this remedy had been discovered by a European country, instead of Madagascar? Would people doubt it so much? I don’t think so,” he asked in a recent interview.

“What is the problem with Covid-Organics, really? Could it be that this product comes from Africa? Could it be that it’s not OK for a country like Madagascar, which is the 63rd poorest country in the world… to have come up with (this formula) that can help save the world?”

The drink is derived from artemisia – a plant with anti-malarial properties – and other indigenous herbs, and supposedly cures patients in ten days.

By the way, Madagascar just recorded its first coronavirus-related death despite ‘Covid-Organics.’ But that’s not bad, compared to the toll in countries which have turned their noses at this bit of liquid African magic.

That said, the malaria link is quite intriguing. Don’t be surprised if –when a cure is found, or an explanation established for why Africa has not produced the death rates recorded in Europe and North America – there’s a connection to malaria.

A little over a week ago, proprietor of African Independent Television (AIT), Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, and some members of his family who had been diagnosed as Covid-19 positive, were treated and managed a swift recovery from the disease.

Dokpesi, on release from isolation, regaled the world with tales of being treated solely with malaria drugs. He wondered whether there was really any difference between malaria and Covid-19. For his trouble he got a polite lecture from NCDC boss, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, about one (Covid-19) being caused by a virus, and the other, brought on by a parasite.

Many would continue to doubt if apples are different from oranges until they have a Damascus Road conversion – most likely in an isolation ward.

Fresh from his lockdown heroics that saw him bulldozing two hotels whose proprietors violated his Executive Order, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, announced a relaxation window of four days to enable his people stock up on necessities for the final battle against the virus.

The very next day he was seen attending an event of his People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He even managed to find himself in the middle of an overcrowded photograph that appeared to have been taken in an age before someone invented ‘social distancing.’

Cynics allege he deliberately relaxed the lockdown to create a convenient legal window for the event. But who can begrudge a man a little overcrowding after the exhaustions of keeping the crowds off the streets of Port Harcourt.

One thing that is becoming clear after nearly two months of living under restrictions, is that people are developing corona fatigue.

Lagos is the epicentre of the outbreak with 2,550 of the over 6,000 confirmed cases. After five weeks of a pretend lockdown, the government has been casting around for other solutions – including imposing a short term shut down.

It subjected the idea to, of all things, a social media poll. On Facebook it was roundly rejected. I am mystified as to why anyone would do this. This is a matter that should ordinarily be determined largely by science, even if its implementation would have economic consequences. Why subject it to polling by a multitude – many of whom lack knowledge to decide rationally, or don’t even believe Covid-19 exists?

Social media polling has its uses, but I would rather it is left for voting out participants in a reality show than for deciding measures to rein in a killer virus.

The government has since come out to say it is working to open up the entire state economy.

Around the country, governors are falling over themselves to do the same – not because the rate of infection is declining, but because pressure for people to get back to their normal lives is becoming unbearable. People cannot abide being shut away for long, so we have to adjust to the implications of carrying on in the absence of cures and vaccines.

When HIV/AIDS broke out in the 80s, there was so much fear and dread; and for many who contracted it in those days it was a death sentence. There’s still no cure or vaccine for it. But therapies have been developed over the decades that have enabled people live fairly normal lives whilst carrying the virus in their bodies.

With regular handwashing, rubbing of sanitiser and wearing of face masks, we are simply making peace with the fact that Covid-19 will always be an unseen threat – a touch, a breath away – until science delivers a solution.