Opinion

Vaccine brings hope to Covid-19 journey but vigilance remains essential

OUR journey with Covid-19 since last March has at times felt like travelling through an unendingly dark tunnel; yet now there is clear light visible through the gloom, thanks to a highly effective vaccination programme.

In a few short weeks this has seen 6 per cent of the Northern Ireland population receive their first jab, making the north one of the world's top performers.

Correctly, care home residents and those who look after them have been prioritised, along with health and social care workers and those over-80.

A clear plan is in place and, while there are bound to be bumps in the road in a project of its scale, there is every expectation that it will be conducted as quickly as vaccine supplies allow.

This should be of enormous encouragement as we continue to endure dark days.

The gravity of the prevailing situation was emphasised yesterday, with the statistics agency Nisra announcing that 145 deaths related to the coronavirus had been registered in the first week of the year - the highest weekly total since the pandemic began.

It said that a total of 1,976 deaths linked to Covid-19 had been recorded by January 8.

Unfortunately, given what has happened since then, Nisra's next official bulletin will inevitably bring that to more than 2,000 - yet another dispiriting milestone on our journey with coronavirus.

In its latest daily update yesterday, the Department of Health reported 26 further deaths and that during the previous 24 hours, 1,052 people had tested positive for the virus.

These are shocking figures, though so familiar have we become with such statistics that it is possible for their impact to be lost or overlooked.

That would be a mistake. It is clear that this third wave of the virus is the most deadly and dangerous yet.

The R number is now thought to stand between 0.7 and 0.9, but case numbers remain alarmingly high.

Because of the lag between an individual becoming infected and falling so ill that they require hospital treatment, our hospitals and health and social care system are going to remain under intense and constant pressure for some time.

As a community, we owe it the exhausted staff to continue to exercise vigilance and follow good practice, including limiting our contacts, wearing a face covering and, as the chief medical officers in Northern Ireland and the Republic stressed yesterday, stay at home.