The challenge of the times, is keeping this disease boxed in. If people transmit this disease, then it will stop moving when people stay still. The disease will stop spreading, ...

Ghana Lockdown. Image credit - The Hindu

The lockdown continues. An increase in children’s appetite has gone viral, driving down domestic food storage levels everywhere. Even our dog, has been cleaning up her plate on a much more regular basis.

Coronavirus is a large family of viruses with seven different strains. MERS and SARS were the last outbreaks of this family, but none of them ever did what COVID 19 has done.

Viral Musing

A virus is an inanimate particle with the capacity to hijack the reproductive capacity of a living being, to produce more of itself. It has no capacity to do anything on its own. It is just a strand of genetic code surrounded by protein membrane. It is even incapable of protecting itself, but give it one chance. And it does not discriminate. Animal cell, human cell. As long as it has a nucleus, it’s game time.

It is not real here yet. It is almost as if we have not seen the havoc that it has wreaked across the world. We are ...

A deserted transportation hub in Accra following the lockdown. Image credit – Ghanaian Times

Lockdown begins. I thought, going to work that I would see a ghost town. I did not. The traffic has definitely reduced, but there are still people on the streets. The shops are closed, or closing. The police stops are increasing. The first day, I was underwhelmed. I did not meet a single police man on my way to work. Today, I was stopped more times. The grip is tightening slowly, but maybe not fast enough.

Right after the turn, the smell of urine usually wafts up, seeping even through the air conditioning vents. Sometimes I meet someone responsible for the stench.

File image - Workers in protective suits conduct RNA tests on specimens inside a laboratory at a center for disease control and prevention, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, Feb. 14, 2020.

On the final approach home, there is a turn unto a narrow dirt road. It is a left turn over an open gutter, with a limited concrete bridge of a cover. In the centre of the bridge, there is a hole, just big enough for a car tyre to get trapped in.