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Port Elizabeth, South Africa — at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, sees thousands of children left orphaned after losing their parents to coronavirus.
Many locals have stepped up to assume responsibility for the children in their extended families left without their primary caretakers — such as local church leader Khaya Tyatya who says nobody expected this painful situation.
Watching @skynews on terrible situation in South Africa’s Port Elizabeth where thousands of children orphaned by Covid having to rely on hand outs of food in the street.
Then Sky went straight to Lady Gaga offering $500,000 reward for some dogs.
That’s planet earth folks. 🙁— Matt Gray (@mattgrayc64) February 25, 2021
The community has rallied together to organise food drives and provide other necessities for the children.
Many struggle to stay strong as they grieve their deceased loved ones and wonder how to heal forward from the loss while doing the best for the innocent children.
Khaya Tyatya draws from his faith to cope with the harsh reality.
“What is it that I have done to deserve this? But there are things, there are questions that cannot be answered on this side of the world, they will be answered. Hence I always say to them when I preach, I want to go to heaven and ask Jesus, personally one-on-one, why was this allowed to happen to us?”
Brutal Second Wave
The unprecedented global health crisis has hit South Africa the hardest on the continent — with a cumulative total of over 1.5 million confirmed cases and almost 50,000 deaths.
A year ago on 1 March 2020 the first patient later confirmed with COVID-19 in South Africa returned with eight others from Milan in Italy via Dubai.
Later another person in this group also tested positive.
A year ago today ……— 👀 🙄🇿🇦 (@AIC100) March 1, 2021
In a positive turn of events, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday that South Africa will enter a lower coronavirus alert level in light of a dip in new daily infections.
In addition, as part of the country’s ongoing vaccination campaign, 11 million vaccines from Johnson & Johnson — which is expected to provide 57-85% efficacy against mild to severe disease caused by the more contagious coronavirus strain, have been secured.
