India has just finished a few days of curfew and clapping to practice ‘social distancing’ and to express gratitude to millions of health and essential service workers amid the Covid19 pandemic. Yesterday, honourable PM of India appeared on TV to advise Indian people to observe a 3-week Lockdown from today’s midnight. As we see Coronavirus is challenging mankind as never before. China says it has overcome the initial phase of hiccups and is now in a position to control its spread while the US has declared that it is at war with the invisible enemy . I was expecting that PM would announce what his government is going to do for the economy when entire India is under Lockdown for about 21 day’s from now on, -whether it’s an existential crisis that our banks will face or the break-in employment and daily wages the poor will have to suffer. Nor did he address the issue of masks shortage or testing equipment, kits via-a -vi’s the Indian population. But he left it to the states to handle the messy details of lockdown and health care.
Whatever it is, today the entire world is suffering from the havoc inflicted by the Coronavirus. The WHO has already declared it a pandemic. So far around 4,00,000 people got infected worldwide, and in India, more than 400 people are reported to have been infected, out of which about 10 people died, according to a report. The figures are increasing day by day, but as I understand, now we are in stage 2, and the next 2/3 weeks are very crucial. So far most of the cases here are directly connected to people coming from abroad, and their relatives and friends who come in contact with them.
The human-human spread began in Wuhan, China, and Chinese authorities learned about it in last December 2019, itself. There are even reports that the virus originated in the Wuhan Institute Of virology and linked it to the manufacture of biological weapons by China. But Scientists of the institute say that its location and spread of the virus is a mere coincidence. Perhaps this is the reason why the US president is calling it “Chinese virus.” Earlier even in 2002 also an infection called SARS in which thousands of people got infected and around 750 died came from China.
If you look at the present situation in India, though the state governments are assuring the public that adequate tests for Covid19 are being done only 111 labs are operational, I believe, in a country of 135 crores population. The delay in testing will give the virus more opportunity to spread. The central government should take initiative in adding more testing centers, to ensure faster testing. Along with the scare of the virus, the poor people shouldn’t be left to stare at the prospect of living on an empty stomach. The corporate industry may cry for bailout packages but the priority should be to look after the interests of daily wage earners who have no one else but the Government to look to for relief.
Whatever it is, today the entire world is suffering from the havoc inflicted by the Coronavirus. The WHO has already declared it a pandemic. So far around 4,00,000 people got infected worldwide, and in India, more than 400 people are reported to have been infected, out of which about 10 people died, according to a report. The figures are increasing day by day, but as I understand, now we are in stage 2, and the next 2/3 weeks are very crucial. So far most of the cases here are directly connected to people coming from abroad, and their relatives and friends who come in contact with them.
The human-human spread began in Wuhan, China, and Chinese authorities learned about it in last December 2019, itself. There are even reports that the virus originated in the Wuhan Institute Of virology and linked it to the manufacture of biological weapons by China. But Scientists of the institute say that its location and spread of the virus is a mere coincidence. Perhaps this is the reason why the US president is calling it “Chinese virus.” Earlier even in 2002 also an infection called SARS in which thousands of people got infected and around 750 died came from China.
If you look at the present situation in India, though the state governments are assuring the public that adequate tests for Covid19 are being done only 111 labs are operational, I believe, in a country of 135 crores population. The delay in testing will give the virus more opportunity to spread. The central government should take initiative in adding more testing centers, to ensure faster testing. Along with the scare of the virus, the poor people shouldn’t be left to stare at the prospect of living on an empty stomach. The corporate industry may cry for bailout packages but the priority should be to look after the interests of daily wage earners who have no one else but the Government to look to for relief.
