Covid-19 revisited — a year after

THE year 2020 could have been a year like any other. But it went fast and slowand slow: fleeting for the Covid-19 victims, especially for the families left behind; too fast for proper grieving; no closure; our departed's presence lingering, still felt as goodbyes were not said intimately. Dying alone is not a civilized choice and is culturally abhorrent. These days death bedspace turnover is quick, ICU slot a premium and cremation a must. Time goes painfully slow for the living. Waiting for vaccination is simply excruciating.

I have written 19 columns on this pandemic. And I wrote a blog on the Ebola virus, which proved to be eerily prescient. This was the African outbreak that killed thousands. I am reprinting an abridged version of this 2014 blog on the Ebola virus that has similarities to the current coronavirus in its deadly spread, titled “Ebola virus: Is this the end of our world?”