COVID-19 In India: Are We Making Progress?
Sourav Singha Roy
We know what we are fighting today is the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2) or COVID-19, a large enveloped RNA virus, with a large genome and a high substitution rate. Ever since the first cases were reported in China in December 2019, there has been a massive rise in the number of confirmed cases across the world. The exponential increment of confirmed cases as well as death tolls worldwide, as reported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), indicates the severity of the crisis we are faced with today. In India, the number of positive coronavirus-infected cases has significantly increased in the past few days. The WHO declared COVID-19 a ‘global pandemic’ on March 11, 2020, clearly suggesting a tough fight across the globe where we have to collectively battle for our lives.
A pandemic is not easy to fight. Countries are often not prepared to take up such battles. However, what needs to be done at the moment of a pandemic like this is a question of fundamental importance. The first step for every administration is of course to figure out ways to contain the virus from spreading. This led various administrations to announce nationwide lockdowns across the world. However, when it came to India, the response to a global pandemic like this has been disappointing. It was ten days after the WHO declared COVID-19 a ‘global pandemic’, that the Indian government addressed the people.
It is also noteworthy that the only Indian state which started undertaking measures way before even the WHO guidelines came into place, was the state of Kerala. As soon as the first reports of confirmed cases had surfaced from China in late 2019, Kerala’s Ministry of Health and Social Justice had called for an urgent meeting in January 2020 to discuss this and subsequently adopt measures. The state government has since then been working on a war footing to contain the spread of the virus as well as to treat the infected. It has focused on production of hand-sanitisers and masks and has distributed these across the state. Additionally, since any epidemic like this most hits the underprivileged class, their lives and livelihood, the government has also announced packages and relief for them. In contrast to this model, the central government has hardly taken any such measures.
‘Janta Curfew’ and ‘Taali/Thaali Bajao’ Event
It was only on March 19, 2020 that the Prime Minister broke his silence on the issue and addressed the people of India after the COVID-19 broke out. The address came along with a call to observe a ‘Janta Curfew’ on March 22, 2020.
Narendra Modi played on rhetorics with beginning remarks such as, “I want a few weeks from you”, “Whenever I asked you to do something, you never disappointed me” etc. His call primarily had two points – the first is to observe ‘Janta Curfew’ on Sunday, and secondly, to applaud the doctors, health workers, and those who have been providing essential services by risking their lives for the past two months. In a dramatic way, he urged people to appreciate them by ‘clapping, banging plates, and ringing bells’ (Tali bajake, thali bajake, ghanti bajake) from their doorsteps, balconies or windows. PM Modi also hinted in his speech that the government needed an ‘event’ to assess the ground; if the country was prepared to fight the coronavirus by quarantining themselves.
However, what this call turned out to be was quite an embarrassing event. It was more of a celebration, as though the country had achieved something, than fighting a deadly virus. More surprisingly, on the day of the ‘Janata Curfew’, people came out on the streets in large numbers by violating the essential guidelines issued by WHO. It reminded us again of Einstein who rightly said “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the Universe.”
One may argue that the Prime Minister had no role to play in such stupidity. Of course, Modi never asked people to come out on the streets, rather, he appealed to everyone to stay at home. But it seems that his party workers and loyal admirers thoroughly misunderstood this call. They rather preferred to treat this as an occasion to celebrate his popularity, than to take it as a step to fight the coronavirus. Additionally, a large number of PM’s followers, including some celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan and Mohanlal, stated that the ‘Janta Curfew’, followed by clapping or banging utensils or ringing the bells, would generate a vibration, so much so that the coronavirus would not be able to survive.
The event essentially became a festival, an opportunity to expose people’s stupidity, or to celebrate how one man could move the entire nation. It definitely was not a serious step in the fight against coronavirus. It neither helped the millions of people of this country to come out of their fear for their lives, nor did it offer any concrete measures for those who may die out of hunger if quarantined.
Non Science in the Time of Coronavirus
There are plenty of examples before us which suggest a promotion of superstitious beliefs and unscientific opinions propagated by leaders of the ruling party. We normally think that we have passed the time when a patient would visit a doctor for a disease rather than a godman. The progressive and rationalist organisations over decades have been working towards getting people out of such false beliefs. However, when leaders themselves encourage people to continue practicing non-science, nothing could be more disastrous.
As the coronavirus broke out, we received reports from various parts of the country, of leaders making unscientific claims. A few days ago, Suman Haripriya, a Member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed, “Cow dung has many benefits. I think it can kill the coronavirus. Cow urine can also be useful.” From organizing ‘Gomutra Party’ as a curative measure to blaming meat-eaters for the spread of the virus, we have pathetically unscientific narratives/beliefs in circulation or in practice. Following ‘Janta Curfew’ a series of misleading and unscientific information was shared by the country’s big-shot celebrities on social media. From Rajnikant to Pawan Kalyan to Sonu Nigam, they went on praising Modi’s call by releasing bogus statements like “Coronavirus becomes ineffective in 12 hours. And Janata Curfew is for 14 hours. So you can now understand how it is a masterstroke – which no other nation has applied.”
Lockdown and the Informal Sector
On March 24, 2020, Modi declared a three weeks’ lockdown, along with a Rs. 15, 000 crore healthcare package for fighting the virus. The PM, however, did not utter a single word on the sustenance of the informal/unorganised sector workers who survive on daily wages. The call for such a lockdown was inevitable. But what preparation and remedy have the government offered for the poor and downtrodden of our country – this remains unanswered. Besides, offering a measly Rs. 15000 crore for an entire country, with a population of 1.3 billion, is simply a sham.
While concerns have already been raised regarding detection of cases, India needs to scale up its resources of testing in order to identify positive cases as fast as possible. Urgent upgradation of public health care systems is required, along with the establishment of isolation wards, ICUs, ventilators etc. Extending free service for patients at private hospitals, to deal with the catastrophe is the need of the hour. When the resolution of such vital demands are pending, the 1.3 billion people receiving a Rs. 15, 000 crore package is in fact less than a token.
On 26th March, the country’s Finance Minister (FM) announced a package of Rs. 1.75 lakh crore focusing on the financially underprivileged section of citizens under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana. According to the FM, this scheme will be a relief to almost 60 percent of Indians. The package includes an increment of MGNREGA wages, financial help under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Yojana, for women under Jan Dhan Yojana, free gas cylinder under Ujjwala Yojana, free loan for women’s self-help groups, and some financial help for poor widows and poor differently abled.
However, this announcement too has miserably failed to answer the crucial issues of thousands of migrant workers returning to their home states. The question is, will an increase from Rs. 184 to 204 (a meagre increment of Rs. 20, i.e.) in MGNREGA wages be enough for workers to survive this catastrophe? How can a family function with merely Rs 500 or Rs 1, 000 a month? Will Rs 2, 000 be enough for a farmer during the upcoming rabi harvest? Overall, there are no bold measures put in place for the benefit of workers.
The government is yet to offer any concrete measure for containing the spread of the virus in slums. As the worry goes, transmission will take place faster in such areas, due to overcrowding, poor sanitation, and more human contact on a daily basis. Even respiratory problems are quite frequent amongst those who live in urban slums, due to poor air quality. As per news reports, coronavirus has found its way into Mumbai’s slums and the number of infected stands at 7, as of today. There is hardly any concrete plan to check ‘community spreading’ in Indian slums, which harbor one third of the global slum population. We, therefore, need remedy, not rhetoric to combat the deadly COVID-19, and to protect our country from the ‘economic pandemic’ that could take place in the near future.
Sourav Singha Roy is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
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