A video of a CNN news broadcast did the rounds in our country last week, a small ray of light in a negative association with ‘South Africa’.

The South African Corona Virus mutation has created very poor PR for our country, as it is one of the mutations that spreads faster, and has created a travel ban from our country to a host of other countries around the world.

CNN commented on the South African Corona Virus mutation, detected in October 2020, leading to a second wave of the virus in our country. Since January the number of cases in our country decreased dramatically, so much so that our Lockdown was lightened back to Level 1 in March.

The steep decline was not due to vaccinations, the CNN reporter said, given that only

1% of the population has been vaccinated to date (about 180000 currently), reflecting that the measures used by our country to contain the spread of the Virus (Social Distancing, wearing masks, washing hands) and specific Level 3 regulations introduced (alcohol ban, early curfew, curbing the number of persons at gatherings, and more) led to the steep decline in the Second Wave in South Africa.

The Corona Virus Lockdown (Level 5), announced by our President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier to commence on 27 March and to continue until 16 April, subsequently extended to 30 April, lowered to Level 4 from 1 May, lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, lowered to Level 2 from 18 August, lowered to Level 1 from 21 September, and moved back to Adjusted Level 3 from 29 December,  extended to 15 February on 11 January, extended but relaxed on 1 February, and relaxed back to Level 1 on 1 March 2021, is an unprecedented event in my lifetime. I am posting my daily Facebook post to journal this Corona Lockdown Journey, perhaps to serve as material for a future Book.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide