In terms of the Covid spread, India is back to the season of fresh scare. Initial hopes that a lockdown will save the nation of the pandemic’s sway have evaporated. While India woke up to fight the disease on March 25 through a nationwide lockdown, the Covid infection toll in the country was in the range of 650. Today, the tally crossed the 2,50,000 mark and refuses to be tamed in principal metros like Mumbai and Delhi. The Delhi government, worried over the way things shaped up for it, stated on Tuesday that the infection figure could cross 5.5lakh in a matter of another month. Mumbai too is failing to stem the Covid race ahead and remained in a shutdown mode for two months. So too with Ahmedabad, Pune, Chennai etc.
With activities mostly resuming from June 8, the social distancing norm is bound to be flouted across the board. Mass transport systems other than flights have been resumed to substantial levels. Flights too could have started but for fear on the part of state governments that this would further aggravate matters in their states, as most flights touch Delhi or Mumbai. So too with international flights which emanate from the US, Europe, Hong Kong, or the Gulf regions.
Yet, it is clear now that India is set to take the world’s number one position in Covid infections. Mumbai itself surpassed China’s stated tally of 85,000, while the US, Europe et al will sooner or later fall behind India in infection tally. The deaths, however, are not very high here; it’s still in the range of over 7,000 whereas the US death toll crossed the one-lakh mark.
Much about the Covid virus are still unknown. Scientists are tackling the matter at many levels. It now turns out that China was having Covid cases from mid-2019, though it announced the matter to the world by December only. A vaccine to check the pandemic’s spread will be weeks away. However, perceptions are also gaining ground that Covid-19 too might go away on its own, as SARS did after killing over 800 people in a span of a few months. The scenario today is unpredictable.
But lockdown is no longer the answer to tackle Covid-19, lest the nation faces unprecedented economic disaster which will affect one and all. The poor living on daily wages have been the worst-affected, and they could not even get out of their homes with a begging bowl due to curbs on people’s movement. How things will pan out in the next few weeks is something to wait and watch even as state governments try their utmost to tackle the crises. It’s a catch 22 situation!