It has been more than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic began. We are just learning to cope with the new normal as many grapple to survive emotionally and financially.
We have read so much about the pandemic and how people have personally experienced the loss of a friend or a loved one due to the devastating effects of the virus.
But one story tugged at my very heartstrings.
A few days ago, as I was scrolling through social media, I saw a post calling for members of the public to come forward if they knew the next-of-kin of single mother Corrina Voon Ling Ling from Kuching, who, along with her mother, succumbed to Covid-19, in Kuala Lumpur.
The social media post was looking for Corrina’s relatives in Sarawak, as she had a 12-year-old daughter, who needed to be taken care of.
Thankfully, it is believed that they managed to locate her brother and uncle, not long after the message was posted on Facebook.
As a single mother myself, I truly sympathise with Corrina and her daughter, who was left alone.
It terrifies me to know that it could happen to anyone. What would happen to these children who had no other support from family members?
Covid-19 is turning many children into orphans. These children are left behind under the care of their relatives. But what happens when they don’t have the support of the latter?
In May, a 12-year-old boy was left orphaned and homeless after he lost both his parents to Covid-19 in January.
He had no other relatives to turn to. He had been sleeping on the streets of Bukit Raja in Klang since then, when Ebit Lew, the popular preacher, took to his Facebook to share the child’s predicament after he went looking for him.
This is just one of the many cases of children who have been orphaned by the devastating effects of the pandemic. His is not the only case as the current death toll has peaked at over 4 million, worldwide.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Covid-19 Response Team, in a study, found that an estimated 1.5 million children around the world had lost parents or grandparents to Covid-19.
The study was conducted between March 1, 2020, and April 30, this year, in 21 countries that accounted for more than 76 per cent of all Covid-19 cases.
In Malaysia, it was reported that the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry was working with the Health Ministry to obtain data of children who had lost their parents to the pandemic to ensure that the children were looked after.
But I believe, many of these children would fall through the cracks, leaving them homeless, and with nowhere to turn to. What will happen to these children?
For many parents, their worst fears would probably be the uncertainty of their children’s welfare. What would happen to their children if they were to suddenly die? What if they had no family support? Sadly, Covid-19 has robbed us of everything.
Let’s hope things get better with a higher vaccination rate and less mortality.
In the meantime, all we can do is to stay safe and follow the standard operating procedures, despite the inconveniences.
Think of our loved ones.
As Keanu Reeves once said to a question on what he thought would happen when we died: “I know the ones who love us will miss us”.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
