"It's Been a Nightmare": South Africans Reflect as the Coronavirus Pandemic Nears the 2 Year Mark

• On 31 December, 2021, the whole world will be reflecting on the day the Chinese government officially made an announcement that changed everyone's lives
• The world has been dealing with the Covid19 pandemic for two years and in that time, over five million people have died due to the virus
• South Africans have also shared how their lives have changed since the pandemic, with some saying it has been a terrible time

JOHANNESBURG - 31 December will mark the day the Chinese government made an announcement that changed the lives of everyone in South Africa.

While the rest of the world was preparing to enter into the new, the World Health Organization was notified by China that a new virus that presents with pneumonia-like symptoms had been spreading.

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Nearly two years later, the virus now named Covid19 has spread to all parts of the world and has changed the lives of people and destroyed normal life.

According to SABC News, there have been 283 million Covid19 cases across the globe, to date. More than 5.5 million people have died as a result of Covid19-related complications.

Coronavirus impacts the global economy

The coronavirus pandemic has also had a negative impact on the global economy especially with the emergence of new Covid19 variants.

The new variant, Omicron, which is sweeping across the globe, rapidly poses a new threat to the economy in 2022, according to Reuters.

The new variant has caused slow economic growth globally and there is still uncertainty about how Omicron could develop in the coming year. Supply chains have been impacted severely and we recently saw a few shortages of things such as glass across the world because of the coronavirus.

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South Africans reflect on the past two years of the pandemic

Briefly News put out a poll on Facebook and asked our readers how their lives have changed since the pandemic began. Many people stated that their lives have been very difficult and the pandemic has affected them financially.

The post:

Here are some reflections from Briefly News readers:

Fanny Nombulelo Agnes Malikebu said:

"It's been a total nightmare, more especially at the onset of the pandemic as each and every one of us has to psychologically prepare to new ways of living and adapt to Covid prevention hygiene practices."

Bheka Jazzman Khanyile said:

"It's been a nightmare ..."

Davie Nginjo Wills said:

"This corona, I gave up a long time ago."

Young King said:

"Admin, come on...you know the pandemic drained us all."

Ntombi Nyathi said:

"Broke can’t even afford R5 MTN airtime…Anyone, to exchange my Vodacom pick n pay voucher for airtime?"

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Covid19: Europe experiences surge in cases, WHO says Omicron spreads faster than Delta

Briefly News previously reported that yesterday (29 December), the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant is causing a "tsunami" of Covid-19 cases, which has broken records. In the past week, there have been 65.5 million new cases reported worldwide.

Denmark, the United States (US) and France have reported that their current number of Covid-19 infections surpasses all previously recorded data.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the chief of the WHO, said that Omicron's ever-rising figures can soon create a situation where the healthcare systems of different countries are unable to cope and workers will be over-exhausted, EWN reports.

Source: Briefly News