JOHANNESBURG - Three former and current Anglican archbishops of Cape Town on Tuesday encouraged all southern Africans to work together to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, named Covid-19, across the sub-continent.
"To stop the virus spreading will demand fundamental changes in the behaviour of all of us," Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said in a joint statement.
"The virus has no boundaries, it cuts across all communities, rich and poor, in north, south, east and west. Only mutual love and care for one another will get us through the crisis," the statement read.
"But there is no need to panic. As President [Cyril] Ramaphosa has said, we do have the knowledge, the means and the resources to fight this virus, and if we act quickly and collectively, we can limit its effects. We are resilient and in the past we have overcome challenges by remaining calm and being strategic in our responses."
The bishops appealed to young people not to put at risk the lives of those who cared for them when you were children.
"We know that you are being asked to sacrifice the most for your old people. But please protect those of your parents' and grandparents' generation," they said.
"Let us take the opportunity to respond by choosing life over death; by choosing knowledge over ignorance; by sharing that knowledge; and by caring about others through taking care of ourselves," the bishops said.
"We know that we can rely on people of all faiths and of none to bring those qualities to this struggle."