<p>In Virgil’s <span class="italic">Aeneid</span>, the legendary Trojan hero Aeneas narrates the story of the fall of Troy. For ten years the Greeks had besieged Troy, unable to penetrate its battlements. Eventually, they adopted a cunning stratagem.</p>.<p>A few select warriors hid inside a hollow wooden horse while the rest of the army sailed away. The huge horse statue was left outside the city. The Trojans, believing that the decade-long crisis was past, joyfully admitted the horse within their walls.</p>.<p>At night, the concealed soldiers emerged and opened the gates to their compatriots who had stealthily returned. The Trojans were slaughtered and their glorious kingdom was destroyed.</p>.<p>From this episode in Virgil’s epic, we get the idiom ‘Trojan horse’, which refers to something that appears harmless but is actually hostile and hazardous. So it is with Covid. We may not be faced with armed invasion, but Covid in its different forms continues to pose a threat. It is no less an enemy than nations have often been to one another through the centuries.</p>.<p>Many have conveniently consigned Covid to the backburner but, as in the case of the Greeks, it only seems to have departed. Since it is not loudly proclaiming its presence, we (like the Trojans who were fooled by deceit) are lulled into a false sense of security. </p>.<p>Covid was terrible earlier, when it carried off people in large numbers, and things could get bad again. At the onset of the pandemic, and for months thereafter, Covid was so obviously in evidence that we fought it vigorously, using the various means at our disposal.</p>.<p>Now, we see a general lack of vigilance. People go around unmasked, labouring under the delusion that vaccination makes them invincible. Besides, there is the mistaken notion that the booster will defeat Covid once for all.</p>.<p>Let us remember that Covid, a Trojan horse, remains a deadly danger. In 2022, it is important for us to be acutely alert.</p>
<p>In Virgil’s <span class="italic">Aeneid</span>, the legendary Trojan hero Aeneas narrates the story of the fall of Troy. For ten years the Greeks had besieged Troy, unable to penetrate its battlements. Eventually, they adopted a cunning stratagem.</p>.<p>A few select warriors hid inside a hollow wooden horse while the rest of the army sailed away. The huge horse statue was left outside the city. The Trojans, believing that the decade-long crisis was past, joyfully admitted the horse within their walls.</p>.<p>At night, the concealed soldiers emerged and opened the gates to their compatriots who had stealthily returned. The Trojans were slaughtered and their glorious kingdom was destroyed.</p>.<p>From this episode in Virgil’s epic, we get the idiom ‘Trojan horse’, which refers to something that appears harmless but is actually hostile and hazardous. So it is with Covid. We may not be faced with armed invasion, but Covid in its different forms continues to pose a threat. It is no less an enemy than nations have often been to one another through the centuries.</p>.<p>Many have conveniently consigned Covid to the backburner but, as in the case of the Greeks, it only seems to have departed. Since it is not loudly proclaiming its presence, we (like the Trojans who were fooled by deceit) are lulled into a false sense of security. </p>.<p>Covid was terrible earlier, when it carried off people in large numbers, and things could get bad again. At the onset of the pandemic, and for months thereafter, Covid was so obviously in evidence that we fought it vigorously, using the various means at our disposal.</p>.<p>Now, we see a general lack of vigilance. People go around unmasked, labouring under the delusion that vaccination makes them invincible. Besides, there is the mistaken notion that the booster will defeat Covid once for all.</p>.<p>Let us remember that Covid, a Trojan horse, remains a deadly danger. In 2022, it is important for us to be acutely alert.</p>