Coronavirus Part 13, Over-rated Individuals, Taming Virus 'New Zealand' Way

             There are instances in every ones journey through life where we are rated more than what we are capable of. As a kid, I often showed sparks of brilliance which prompted my elders to have high expectations from me. But time and again I proved them wrong. I shine at my own level but not at the level they thought about me. This recurred so many times as I grew up that the hollow me delivered little amid high expectations in a situation. This is what my real self is – to drive people think greatly about me but actually deliver very less. To take an example, I started to write these weekly posts which made people think highly about me and assume me as something and something. They think – ‘he is writing every week, seemingly has everything and can do anything’. They simply can’t get over the veil of expectations and see the big nothing in me. Welcome to the over-rated club for which I am the President.

             This is partially my fault as well – I create a fake impression and project myself as a false person which is, I seemingly come across as someone but actually someone else. This is happening right now and people should not fall for the trick or two. This is also luring the people into something and deceiving them with nothing. The best way to deal with these over-rated hypocrites is to have no expectations at all and take whatever comes your way. You would deliver your best when you are your own self rather than trying to be someone else. Hence, leave the person as he is and observe what life brings out of him rather than pulling something else from him. With this bit of advice to deal with hypocrites, I welcome you once again to the under-capable, over-rated club which is the club of the present times and taking in large numbers.

             Let me delve on something else which has been on the fore-front of happenings in the country. While I mentioned that the lockdown has failed in the country because of the reasons mentioned earlier, let us look at what could have happened as against what happened. From the day when lockdown was announced, if the DNA of the Indians has unity then the common enemy could have been easily defeated. The foreigners including humans and viruses come to India in their most usual way since many centuries. First, they come as visitors; the locals unaware of the pandemic about to transpire. Then they slowly attack the natives taking their weakness as advantage. Once the foreigners overpower them, the natives go into submissive mode and become slaves. This has been the common theme running through the veins of the country men since thousands of years. The attack by corona did not prove it wrong.

             Now, we will go and look at the story that happened elsewhere around the same time. New Zealand also announced lockdown on March 25^th, the same day when India announced its fight against the virus. Let us look at the turn of events and how it was brought under control there. New Zealand began by setting up a new four-stage alert system and going in at level four, where most businesses were shut, schools closed and people told to stay at home. After more than five weeks, New Zealand moved to level three in April, allowing takeaway food shops and some non-essential businesses to re-open. As the number of community cases continued to decline, the country moved into level two in mid-May. The move to level one came on June 8^th ahead of time - the government had originally planned to make the move on 22 June, but it was brought forward after no new cases were reported for 17 days. The country's borders remain closed to foreign travellers, and rules remain in place requiring the people arriving from abroad to go through a 14-day period of quarantine.

            New Zealand has recorded 1,154 confirmed cases and 22 deaths from Covid-19 since the virus arrived in late February, but has been widely praised for its handling of the crisis. If given a chance, I would like to go and live in New Zealand. India started on March 25^th with 650 cases and New Zealand began its journey with 102 cases. Both countries should have travelled on the same road and reached a point of zero active cases, but India ended up with 4 lakh ninety thousand cases more. The alert system was set-up upfront there and the levels of alerts are downgraded as and when the cases reduced. In contrast, the cases went upwards and the alerts were lowered (restrictions relaxed) in our country. New Zealand has among the lowest cases per capita in the world. Its success is mainly attributed to the clarity of the message coming from the government. There is proper planning in consultation with scientific community who gave good briefs and perfect implementation. The people trusted the leadership and abide the rules laid out without any deviations.

             Even if the size of New Zealand pales in front of India, take the example of China. Hundreds of thousands of people in China did not contract covid-19 because of their aggressive response. Some of the measures include hospitals built in days not in weeks or months, rapid testing protocols and technology that attempted to trace all 80,000-plus cases. Corona virus testing was easily accessible and free. In Wuhan, it was 15 days initially from getting sick to hospitalization but it was brought down to 2 days from symptoms to isolation. This has cut the risk of spreading to contacts. The people in home quarantine are provided with all necessities. 15 million people ordered food online and it was delivered. There is no need for someone to stay hungry or resort to panic-buying. By virtue of their seriousness and very tough measures, the Chinese could contain the virus and limit its spread to below 1 lakh.

             Why can’t we expect the same from Indian counterparts and administration? It is not just about a mild harmless disease but about uniting people against a raising pandemic, working with grit and purpose furthering a common agenda and 1.3 billion people living in unison to synergize the fight against a minute enemy. Where are these traits, qualities and why are we staying away from them? It is of no value if we pass on our lives as frivolous elements and constantly lowering the bar and surrendering before an enemy without any strength. Our collective lives have no meaning when we fail as a society time and again. Seeing the growing number of cases in China in March, one foreigner mentioned that he is relieved corona virus did not originated in India since the country is ill-equipped in handling these crises situations. I thought then that he is wrong in his assumptions but it is June end now and he is right - our country is ill-equipped in rising up to pandemics of this magnitude.

             Moving to the statistics, there are a total of 96.55 lakh infected cases worldwide and 4.88 lakh people dead. In the past week, 11.01 lakh new cases came up and 33 thousand passed away. More than 11 lakh new cases have been registered which is the highest surge in single week so far. U.S.A, Brazil, Russia, India are the ongoing hotspots for the spread of the virus. The number of new cases is peaking every week which tells the worst is coming by every future week. The curve is reaching new heights every next week which indicate we need to be prepared for much worse conditions. My heart goes out to doctors, nurses and all other frontline workers who have been tirelessly working to save the lives. Everyone should stand in solidarity with them and our collective efforts should be to reduce their pain. Since the cases are increasing rapidly in India, it is advisable to impose lockdown once again in the clusters where the cases are concentrated more. The lockdown should be planned well and meticulously implemented showcasing our collective strength till the cases are brought to zero in those areas. This kind of lockdown is already in force in Chennai and surrounding areas which needs to be implemented in rest of country as well.