I would like to respond to the letter by Peanut Man on ‘Time to reflect on the past year’, published in the Opinion page on December 29.
The world has been battling COVID-19 for almost two years. The Sultanate has been more fortunate than most – we enjoyed over a year of relative freedom. Some countries are facing the sixth or seventh wave; we have thus far gone through two. While measures in the second wave were comparatively more restrictive than the first, with mask mandate and movement control to curb the spread, these were all necessary to fight off highly transmissible and deadly Delta variant.
With the number of new cases falling on a daily basis, we get to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. All the sacrifices we have made to comply with the health guidelines, such as not leaving home unnecessarily and wearing face masks at all times, have paid off. We are now in the Early Endemic Phase, with more de-escalation in the pipeline.
I understand the writer’s optimism. Thanks to the concerted efforts from the authorities, frontliners and the populace, we have been able to push back against the threats of the pandemic and regain some sort of normalcy. Of course, we can never get back the life we had before the COVID-19 outbreak; and it may seem frightening at times that we are moving into unchartered territory.
But I believe in the spirit of the populace, that with enough determination, we can live through this health crisis and come out stronger on the other side.
Happy New Year!
The Observer
