Special egg-emption as Easter Bunny given essential-worker clearance

08 April 2020 - 16:42 By Khanyisile Ngcobo
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World leaders are clear: the Easter Bunny must be allowed to do his essential work this weekend even as the coronavirus creates havoc around the globe.
World leaders are clear: the Easter Bunny must be allowed to do his essential work this weekend even as the coronavirus creates havoc around the globe.
Image: 123RF/Alexey Poprotsky

As most of the world braces to spend Easter in some form of lockdown, many children have a pressing question on their minds: will they get a visit from the Easter Bunny this year?

Social media was abuzz on Wednesday as users shared letters children had written to world leaders asking if the festive rabbit's annual delivery of Easter eggs and other chocolatey treats would be affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.

An “official letter”, apparently from the Easter Bunny, was also doing the rounds. It confirmed that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had given it the go-ahead to carry out its holiday mission. It also stated that the bunny was virus-free and would take all the “proper precautions to ensure that the coronavirus would not be passed from house to house”.

Politicians in several countries were quick to assure children that the beloved bunny would still be allowed to make deliveries during Easter. They included the premiers of New South Wales, Western Australia (Australia), Ontario and Quebec (Canada) and the Irish minister of health.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was perhaps the most vocal on the matter; she declared the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy “essential workers”.

She did, however, add that the Easter Bunny might potentially be busy at home with its own family, and urged children to understand that if they didn't get a visit it was because it may be a bit difficult for the rabbit to travel at the moment.

Meanwhile, closer to home, a letter purporting to be from the department of tourism declaring the Easter Bunny an essential worker was widely shared on social media.

The letter has since been dismissed as fake news by the department. 

But hopefully the Bunny will still be doing his rounds and our locked down kids won't miss out on their choccies this Easter.


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