It may have taken some time, but the global pandemic of the Coronavirus disease has reached Ethiopia. Unsettling feelings of panic are just beginning to hit home.

As stated in the weeks before the first case was confirmed, the government health institutions have been preparing for the inevitable arrival of the disease.

But with the amount of news that has flooded all of our senses at this moment, we must stay positive and aware in order to learn from others.

“All countries can still change the course of this pandemic,” as Tedros Adhanom, director-general of World Health Organization (WHO), has said.

The Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) also activated its Emergency Operations Center and its Incident Management System (IMS) for the COVID-19 outbreak on January 27, 2020. Africa CDC has also developed its third Incident Action Plan that covers the period between March 16 to April 15, 2020.

What this means is that while we should indeed remain rational, we should also take the maximum level of precautions.

Italy, a country with the second-highest rate of infections after China and the highest rate of mortality, is currently under a nationwide quarantine.

Its citizens can be found imploring the rest of us over the internet to understand what they wished they had known just a few days ago. Their message is a plea for countries with low numbers of cases, like ours, to heed the advice being given by public health officials: wash our hands frequently and commit to social distancing.

It also entails fighting against those looking to take advantage of such a crisis. Some business owners are taking exemplary actions, but others have turned into profiteers with highly questionable morals. The government is dealing with those that are hiking up the cost of goods, but there are also deceitful individuals that are advertising herbal products as miracle cures and clubs claiming to have disinfected their premises and inviting people to come dance away their nervousness.

While many businesses, including mine, rely on the presence of audiences and people, finding other sources of income may become necessary. The extent of the devastation COVID-19 will cause is unknown. So the actions we take must be meaningful.