Reflections on the Covid-19 confinement

As the COVID-19 storms gathered in the Pacific and countries were sealing their borders, one after the other, and Australia, USA and New Zealand were calling upon their citizens to come home. I took a decision to be close to my family at this difficult time, notwithstanding that at the time Papua New Guinea had no confirmed cases of COVID-19. So I took the very last permitted flight out of Port Moresby to Singapore – and at Singapore I took the last permitted flight out of Singapore to Johannesburg.

Once in Johannesburg the full scale of the COVID-19 disruption was in full display. The airport looked deserted. My connecting flight, SA Express, had cancelled flights to Gaborone and I had to rebook my ticket on SA Link, to fly home.