In a few weeks or so, some of us will be heading to the villages and coastal areas to take a well-deserved break from work and visit loved ones. Unfortunately, the approaching Christmas break has also been accompanied by a spike in Covid-19 infections, raising the spectre of another lockdown – something we have to avoid.

On Sunday, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, a government agency tracking the coronavirus pandemic, reported 687 new infections and two Covid-19 related deaths. The bulk of these infections are in Gauteng, our industrial and commercial heartland, and the positivity rate – which once sat at under 1% – is now sitting at 3% with no sign of decreasing...