The announcement yesterday of another 52 cases of COVID-19 – the largest increase yet – and the constant reminder by the health authorities to respect social distancing and partial lockdown measures, magnify the questions many have been asking over the last few days and weeks.

How bad will this get? How long will it last? Will we cope?

The questions will become all the more strident as the number of cases keeps rising and the economic effects of the measures being taken bite deeper. They are neither simple nor easy to answer, as is evident from the daily press briefings given by the health authorities.

We are in an unprecedented situation. Governments, businesses and individuals are all struggling to make sense of it and retain some control. Nobody, in this lifetime, has precious experience to fall upon.

One answer to these questions is: a lot depends on us. Our health experts have made it amply clear that the more disciplined we are now, the more we follow directives given by the authorities, the less serious the consequences will be.

Models from other countries or regions show that an effective lockdown flattens and reduces the curve of the rise in infections and deaths after about six weeks from the start of such measures. The latest trends from the worst-hit regions in Europe so far, Italy and Spain, indicate this may have started to happen.

So is there light at the end of the tunnel? The answer must be ‘yes’. All over the world there is a massive effort to produce an effective vaccine within the year and human trials have already started in some centres. In the meantime, until that vaccine becomes available on a mass scale, the number of infections and deaths must be kept as low as possible.

There is also rapid progress being reported in producing a reliable blood test for antibodies to the virus. This would confirm whether a person that has caught COVID-19 is immune. So long as the virus does not mutate, it will allow more people to go about their normal business safely. There has also been some promising news on the frontier of drug treatment.

Meanwhile though, how will we cope? A big threat to health at the moment is not physical but mental. Social isolation, financial problems and unemployment, uncertainty and anxiety; these are all playing on people’s mental health and the number suffering is on the rise.

The answer here is solidarity: good neighbourliness, altruism and offering help to each other. Maltese society can sometimes be rather intrusive, especially in the eyes of foreigners. This is a time when this trait could be used to our advantage.

Keeping tabs on friends and family, especially those living alone, by making daily phone calls or video chats will reduce the impact of their loneliness and worry. Utilising the spare time many of us now have to volunteer to deliver food and basic needs to the elderly and other vulnerable people, sharing hobbies and experiences online, resurrecting old connections and friendships… all these individual initiatives will help.

This situation is temporary. How we approach it will determine how we come out of it on the other side. Hopefully we will emerge stronger, more grounded, less materialistic and more appreciative of the truly valuable things in life: love, friendship, community, charity, kindness, good health and compassion for our neighbour.