Only when we are faced with hard times, do we realize the true importance of good times. This is a desperate time and desperate times need desperate measures. The world has been hit by a devastating pandemic. Facing the pandemic, it does not matter what happened to us, what matters is how we respond. The first city to be hit by coronavirus was Wuhan, Hubei inhabiting more than 11 million people and a major transportation hub.
First of all, we need to understand how China was successful in combating Coronavirus disease.
What They Found Out
Chinese officials realized that coronavirus spreads due to human intervention. They are common and spread through being in proximity to an infected person and inhaling droplets generated when they cough or sneeze, or touching a surface where these droplets land and then touching one’s face or nose. A new norm: Lockdown was introduced.
What is Lockdown? What implications does it have for every one of us?
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Decoding this terminology
In laymen terms, lockdown means closing down everything and remaining housebound. This is similar to curfew witnessed during any unprecedented event. Thus the day to day activities in the region is halted. Its necessity lies in the goal of minimizing the chances of transmission via humans. In order to counter the exponential rise of COVID-19 infected patients in the affected countries, this turns out to be the best possible evasion methodology. In late January, China’s Hubei Province was the first one to undergo Lockdown thus, retarding the spread of COVID-19.
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So, was lockdown successful?
In recent weeks after its implementation, China which had been under tremendous pressure from all over the global media showed some rays of hope for humanity as the major hurdle of human transmission was curbed either by law or by a brute of military and police forces. Seeing the exponential rise flattening its curve of the number of COVID-19 patients brought hope in other countries. The epicenter which was China (where more than 3300 people died) shifted from Asia to Europe with Italy having the highest number of casualties (more than 6500) and in Iran of the Middle East.
Is Lockdown justified for the affected countries? Will India taste any success by replicating it?
In the present scenario, China has been able to nullify the registry of any new cases since the past 2 weeks and the flattened curve is now shrinking to appreciable low levels. Singapore has been able to counter-attack the first wave of infections. Italy has banned all movement inside their country and closed non-essential businesses as the spread of coronavirus continues. France is the third-worst affected European country after Italy and
Spain, and went into lockdown on 17th March. These incidents are similar to post security measures taken after the 9/11 attacks in the USA, with strict scrutiny and surveillance for people migrating from other parts of the world. Here the human rights activists along with other groups may argue that Lockdown is a norm that compromises Individual rights. However, what we need to understand is that sometimes, compromising on individual rights is important for the greater good of the public.
One reason why Lockdown worked out in China is the portrayal and realization of this act as a civic duty to remain inside their houses.
Lockdown in India is fed as shutdown by the general public reviews. However, that’s not true as the essential services providing organizations along with government agencies will continue to operate within permissible durations. On 22nd March, PM Shri. Narendra Modi requested support for Janta curfew which the majority of people complied with and also applauded the thankless efforts of all the warriors in these tough times. However, this was just the beginning. It was important to influence people to stay inbound and help the GOI in decelerating its deadly rise. Pause in all modes of transportation till March-end has sent a bold message coupled with state government’s precautionary measure of lockdown till 14th April has raised a sense of hope and applaud from the World Health Organization.
Lastly, the measures might seem to be meager for few, harsh for masses. However, as is rightly said, Everything is fair in war. This is also a war but against the biggest enemy of the century-corona virus.
