Covid-19 lessons for SA: Life after lockdown – QR codes maintain govt control

The story of the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed anywhere between 20m and 50m people, came in waves, with the second wave more deadly than the first, as the History channel reminds us. New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is keenly aware that the Covid-19 nightmare may not be over, even though the virus appears to have been eliminated in her country. She has warned that the virus will be with us for some time, a point echoed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to South Africans. Like Ardern, Ramaphosa went in hard and early by shutting down the country to stop the spread of the deadly Covid-19 disease. Ardern's new weapons against Covid-19 are to keep the borders tightly restricted and to implement QR codes to register people who congregate in groups – with the latter aimed at quickly tracing the spread of the virus. The New York Times picks up on how New Zealand is planning to keep Covid-19 from re-entering the mainstream.  – Jackie Cameron

By Thulasizwe Sithole

Crowds will gather again in New Zealand's restaurants. Weddings will include as many hugs and guests as the happy couple wants — and even social distancing will not be needed. But life will not be as it was, with registration through QR code for anyone who joins a group for the foreseeable future.

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