Countries around the world are taking drastic actions in a bid to prevent the registering and/or spreading of the deadly coronavirus which has gripped the world and caused fear and panic. Hundreds of people have already succumbed to it in many countries and thousands have contracted it.
As the disease has been shown to be as yet incurable, most countries have therefore decided to focus on prevention and other mechanisms to ensure that their citizens do not contract it in the first place. This is serious and should not be taken lightly.
The next-door neighbors, Senegal, with whom the Gambia shares borders on three sides, have registered a number of cases and are battling it day and night. Their first attempts of containment were found to be wanting and thus they decided to widen the net, as it were, by announcing the suspension of big gatherings and closing down of schools and universities until further notice.
Many other countries in Africa and around the world have taken different measures all in a bid to prevent the contraction of this deadly virus among a large number of their populations. This is where a situation of ‘fankung-fankung'[everyone on your own] has been reached. It is now time to consider self and it won’t be a bad idea.
Considering our proximity to Senegal and the social interaction between the two countries, isn’t it time that the Gambia took some drastic measures? Is it too early to consider border closures and putting in place a strict mechanism of putting all entrants through the air and seaports a mandatory fourteen-day quarantine?
Isn’t it time to announce a ban on all large gatherings of all types so that nothing will escape the net and spread the virus here like it has done in other countries?
Granted, the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organized are making commendable efforts, but the issue has now reached a stage where at political will is required to do something.
