India vs Corona - How well are we dealing with the pandemic?

None of us are any strangers to the recent strain of Coronavirus that has taken the whole world by storm. Initially originating in Wuhan, in China, in December 2019, it has claimed over 10,000 lives till date. On 11^th March 2020, the World Health Organization classified the COVID-19 as a pandemic. Even India is not safe from the virus. Currently, there are 250 confirmed cases in India, with around 4 confirmed deaths. However, expert speculation says that such a low number is improbable in a country like India, and that the figures are only low due to the lack of testing facilities and adequate health infrastructure in India. This begs the question: Is India prepared for the COVID-19? Can we survive it? Read on to find out. 

If I were to ask each and every one of you what the biggest factor is in mitigating any pandemic, I bet 9 out of 10 would say “the measures taken by the government”. But that is not the case. The biggest contributing factor in the success or failure of any fight against a virus as potent as the COVID-19 is always the public: how seriously they take the virus, how well they keep themselves and others around them safe, and above all, how willing are they to compromise with comfort for the sake of health. 

Sadly, in India, the public response has been unsatisfactory and discouraging, to say the very least. There have been numerous incidents showing how the indifferent attitude of people has endangered several lives. And this callousness is not solely a behavioral trait exhibited by the ignorant and uneducated, either. Recently, Kanika Kapoor, singer of many famous Bollywood songs like “Baby Doll” and “Chittiyan Kalaaiyan”, was tested positive for Coronavirus. She had returned from a trip to the United Kingdom, and upon her return, had refused to share her travel history with the airport officials. She also attended a party in a 5-star hotel with over 1,000 guests, not including the hotel staff and security. Since she has been tested positive, Kanika has faced a lot of backlash for her actions. Several eminent personalities who attended the party with her have placed themselves in self-quarantine, including senior BJP leader Vasundhra Raje and her family. In another incident, a tech engineer working at Google in Bangalore was diagnosed with Coronavirus. His wife was placed in quarantine. She not only escaped the quarantine, but she also took a flight to Delhi, and then a train to Agra, placing thousands of co-passengers and travelers at risk. 

While FIRs have been registered against both of them, it still doesn’t change the fact that the threat is considered over-hyped by many people. However, the picture is not all bleak. Several major celebrities and personalities have placed themselves into quarantine and appealed to the public to do the same. However, this gives rise to a new question: As we place ourselves into quarantine and fight corona, what happens to the country? 

The answer to that is not as simple as it seems. Let us begin by considering the financial position of the country. While the condition of the stock market as well as the Indian rupee was not very good to begin with, the Corona scare has resulted in a kind of free fall situation that has severely harmed several businesses and investors. The Sensex has fallen from around 40,000 at the beginning of the month to just above 28,000 at closing bell on 20^th March 2020. The same can be said for the Nifty-50 and the prices of gold and silver. The Indian rupee has also fallen to over 75 rupees for a dollar, indicating that a severe foreign exchange crisis may be looming over the country. the general apathy of the Modi government combined with the ineptitude of Nirmala Sitharaman as a finance minister has not helped matters or boosted investor confidence in the resilience or the recovery of the Indian economy.

However, the effect on the Indian stock market and the fortunes of the rich is nothing compared to how Corona has affected those who were already living in a state of penury. The imposition of Article 144 in several areas prohibiting gatherings of more than 5 people in a place, combined with the work-from-home culture, has not helped casual wage laborers and factory workers, who have suddenly found themselves faced with a tough choice: they can either go to work and risk getting infected, or they can stay at home and die of hunger and thirst. In some cases, it is not even that. Factories have been shut with no proper severance package given to the workers, and they no find themselves out of work with nowhere to go. With the exception of the Yogi Adityanath led government in Uttar Pradesh and Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala, no other state has so far even acknowledged this problem. While Yogi has announced that the government will give 1,000 rupees a day to all daily wage and construction workers for them to meet their needs, the Kerala government has announced universal rations and started the mass production of sanitizers and masks on a war-footing basis. Both these governments need to be commended for their efforts, yet it remains to be seen whether other states will follow suit. 

If the callousness of the people and the adverse economic effects were not enough, the lack of testing facilities and kits has also compounded the problem. Currently, the free testing facilities are available only in a few selected government hospitals, and even in these hospitals, the facilities are inadequate. At airports all over the country, only thermal sensors have been placed. While they may help isolate people, who are suffering from fever, they do not help in screening people who have fever but the symptoms have not begun to show. The Indian government was also very late in placing restrictions on the influx of tourists and passengers from Italy, China, and Iran, which again contributed to the spread of the virus. 

What is worse than no information? Misinformation. Since the COVID-19 fear started, several fake news and home-made “treatments” have been circulating on WhatsApp, causing medical practitioners a lot of trouble. The BJP and organizations affiliated to it have also contributed more than their fair share to this. Recently, the Ministry of AYUSH released a pamphlet stating that the Coronavirus could be treated using medicinal plants and other Ayurvedic treatments. This has faced severe backlash from the medical community, since it has been widely proven and accepted that Ayurveda does not contribute to the healing of diseases. 

Even more surprising is the stance taken by the Hindu Mahasabha, who continue to maintain that cow-dung and cow-urine are the cure for Coronavirus. They have even gone as far as to hold a party where people only drank cow-urine. Doctors have said that drinking cow-urine may cause a multitude of other health problems, but similar incidents are being reported from all over the country. in a temple in Juhu, Mumbai, visitors were forcibly doused with cow-urine as they entered their temple, without their knowledge or consent. A viral video of a BJP minister shouting “Go Corona, Corona Go” has also surfaced, and has quickly become the target of several memes.

The response from Modi has also been far from reassuring. In his recent address to the country during his broadcast “Man Ki Baat”, Modi called for a Janta curfew on Sunday. While experts have questioned the validity or the relevance of this move, social media was quick to rush to Modi’s defense. A message that has been circulating on several WhatsApp groups reads: “Since the virus can only live for about 12 hours, people staying in their homes for 14 hours will surely result in the virus becoming extinct and solve the issue. Modi deserves the Nobel Prize in Medicine for this mind-blowing discovery.” I promise you; I only wish I was joking. All trains, metros, and several domestic flights have been cancelled throughout India in preparation for the Janta Curfew.

Leftist politicians and the Congress were also quick to use the Coronavirus as an opportunity for political advantage. Protestors at Shaheen Bagh have refused to move, saying that the CAA-NRC is more dangerous than Coronavirus. the Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh has also said that the Ram-Navmi Mela will not be cancelled and will proceed as per schedule. This is an event that is attended by over 10 million people from across the country. There is a huge chance that in both the cases – the Mela and the Protests – people might get infected exponentially. However, the fear of possible death seems to be secondary to religion and politics in India these days. 

So, is India ready to battle Coronavirus and come out unscathed? I say no. While a few good steps have been taken, they are nowhere near enough to combat this menace. We need more regulation, more testing, and above all, more seriousness on the part of the people in order to tackle this problem. Only then can India hope to pull through this time of misery and sickness. 

Jai Hind!

-NK