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Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Correspondent
COVID-19 is presently the single greatest threat to countries’ national security hence the number of interventions by nations, some of them never seen before, to try and curb the spread of the virus.

President Mnangagwa on Sunday announced a 14-day extension of the 21-day lockdown that was supposed to end on the day as a way to fight against the spread of Covid-19.

The world, is at war against an invisible enemy, and the enemy is within their borders, it has infiltrated and infected the masses and each country is struggling to contain its spread.

Covid-19 has caused this as it has disrupted the very essence of being a human being, socialising, shaking hands, hugging, kissing or even touching. The very places where people had found pleasure, such as at parties, bars; spiritual healing, church and mosques have become the fertile breeding ground for Covid-19.

Besides fearing for our health, world governments’ Covid-19 restrictive measures have whipped up fears about our income and the fight between staying at home and slowly dying from hunger or leaving home, fend for their families and get infected and die from Covid-19.

Globally, production has been stopped and many world economies have ground to a halt and the implications are grave.

Before and after the lockdowns have been lifted, there is another headache that nations will suffer from, that is how will they feed their people.

This is because global food supply chains are hinged on cross-pollination of imports from countries that produce surplus in different goods.

These nations have stopped exporting as they want to first feed their nations guaranteeing their nation’s food security before others.

A hungry population is fertile ground for civil unrest among nations and can degenerate into anarchy with people looting shops in search of food, as they will not have the income to buy it.

This could also lead to basic commodities skyrocketing as is already the case in Zimbabwe and already the meagre incomes are stretched.

Civil unrest in these Covid-19 times where even the country’s defence forces could be incapacitated by just having one of them infected thus compromising national security.

It’s a case of national security which is said to be the capacity of a nation to mobilise military forces to guarantee its borders and to deter or successfully defend against physical threats including military aggression and attacks by non-state actors, such as terrorism.

Well this is a different type of enemy as the invasion was not seen, not heard, did not bomb, but the enemy is amongst us, causing terror and killing people en masse.

Heads of State are in danger as well. Just look at the British Prime minister Mr Boris Johnson, he tested positive and was taken to ICU, meaning he had a brush with death.

It was not Mr Johnson alone, Prince Charles the heir apparent to the British throne was also exposed and had to be put under 14-day quarantine.

Another example is Nigeria where President Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff Abba Kyari died from Covid-19.

In Botswana, the whole cabinet, including President Mokgweetsi Masisi have been put on quarantine after a health worker, screening the lawmakers at the beginning of the month tested positive.

The country has also declared a six-month lockdown in order to curb the spread of the virus.

In Canada, President Trudeau’s wife Sophie Grégoire tested positive and the couple had to self-isolate.

The implications are endless on what Covid-19 could do to the balance of power within a country as it can incapacitate a whole presidium, a worst-case scenario wipe out a whole cabinet.

A nation’s army can also be infected due to the way Covid-19 spreads, as a single person can infect many others and this can increase exponentially. This can weaken a whole nation sending the defence forces into quarantine, rendering the country at the mercy of outside or inside forces of destabilisation.

Terror groups can be encouraged to create new forms of biological weapons, and the world powers have taken this very seriously. In the United States of America Covid-19 is now being considered a “biological agent”.

According to Forbes, those who deliberately cough on policemen or merchandise to spread infection can be charged with terrorism.

Forbes also reports that two people in the US have been charged with terrorism offences after claiming they were intentionally trying to spread Covid-19.

In the United Kingdom, it’s no different, as the BBC reported that a man was recently jailed for coughing on a police officer, saying he hoped to infect them (police) with the virus so that they would pass it on to their children.

To show how serious this is, even the world’s terror organisations such as Isis issued a travel advisory for Europe to its fighters due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, asking fighters to suspend travel to the region for terror attacks.

In South Africa notorious Cape Town gangs have called a truce. Interestingly, the rival gangs from Mannenberg have been working together to distribute food parcels to the residents.

We indeed, are living in fascinating and bizarre times, where terror organisations call to stop their activities for a while until the Covid-19 storm blows over.

The pandemic is also an eye-opener to Governments around the world. Pandemics should be part of natural disaster planning as they can wipe out a nation and within a short period of time compared to war.

Hence resources should be channelled more towards protecting a country from these pandemics and have mechanisms in place to respond effectively and not be caught off guard during an outbreak. — Follow on Twitter @bonganinkunzi.