The global pandemic or the deadly disease was to be believed to be born in Wuhan China last year. It sure did touch the nook and corner of every life across the globe without any discredit or disregard to anyone’s ethnicity, social status, class or creed. The lives perished and lost did lose itself in the statistical data and record keepings of the high officials.
One year and one month and we are still counting. When the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on July 15th declared to the World from the roof that there is never going back to the normal did sink our heart further. The transmission of the epidemic to pandemic could be traced through the times of hopelessness, fear of uncertainty, death of loved ones and finally to a glimmer of wistful mirage for the future.
When the New Year’s Eve of 2019 startled the Health ministry and officials of China with the daunting reporting of the epidemic cluster, it perhaps didn’t throw caution to the wind. What followed a week later was just a retrospective review of the past cases and not efficient monitoring of the existing active cases, when it had the chance.
As per the reports, the authorities initiated the probe for active case finding from the 7th of January, a week later the first haywire cluster being reported. With multiple teams and officials investigating for the source and origin, a man aged 55 years could the first person to contract the deadly virus on November 17th. And by December 27th the virus had infected almost 180 people with no contact tracing, thereby reporting to the concerned health officials about the novel corona virus.
The whistle-blower of the novel corona virus is believed to be Dr, Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist of the epidemic epicentre Wuhan. He succumbed and relented into the fatal distress and eventually contributing a number into the statistical records of the ministry, but not before being subjugated and penalised for calling out the government and the health ministry for trying to suppress and hold the news from the larger mass.
22 new cases were recorded on March 2020 and ever since then, the proliferation of the viral started. The only preventive measures being social distancing, covering mouth and nose with face masks, and disinfection, left and rump tied the shredded hope of the collective consciousness. With new hundred deaths reported, escalated to the counts in thousands, and left the baffled health workers and agencies of health care professionals gaping into the voids of tomorrow.
When the Symptoms of the infected served to be the indicator, the asymptomatic patients evinced to be the real formidable threat, yet again leaving the heath care professionals and researchers stranded in an unending loop of desperate dejection.
By 13th of March the World reported 1, 48,000 cases, with more than 81,000 active cases in China alone. Simultaneously, the Indian union government initiated the nationwide lock down on March 25th, leaving the poor and destitute stranded in crossroads of daily wages and safety.
As in the case of India, on 30th of January we reported the first ever Covid-casualty and thereby steadily raising the number to three by February. The Infected Wuhan returnees to India as patients were contained in isolated government aided facilities. No other forms of direct transmissions were recorded. But the testing and containing measures for the infections mushroomed and increased by the month of March.
The government and the Health ministry isolated and quarantined individuals travelling from abroad and the ICMR or the Indian Council of Medical Research huddled for plan and mitigation. With preventive measures being chalked out and research institutes carrying out the tests and trials for the vaccine, it sure did leave the Nations with lots of unanswered questions hanging in the air.
The union govt on March 22nd imposed a 14- hour voluntary public curfew, followed by the Nationwide imposed mandatory lockdown from March 24th for 21 days. On April 9th ICMR revamped and revised the strategy for testing of potential patients exhibiting less intense symptoms for 7 days in the hotspot areas of the country, without taking into consideration of their travel history or direct contacts to any infected.
As on April 14th, the union extended the nationwide lockdown till 3rd May, with partial unlocking of the nation, initiated in phases from June 1st onwards. As hoped, India exceeded active cases on June 10th for the first time, with the backing support of the Ministry of information and Broadcasting claiming that India’s fatality rate came down to 2.41 %, which is believed to be the lowest in the World.
And by September, infected rates dropped with increased test rates. But by the middle of October, the pandemic again peaked in India, with the officials expecting the issue to come down from February 2021 onwards, after the onset of the vaccination drive.
Even when the rays of hope shadows and looms over our nation, India is still recovering from the pandemic triggered social, political and economic issues like; unemployment, recession, food crisis, Work from home cultures and uncovered and no clarified portions from the virtual classrooms of young minds.
With the dry run vaccine drives and the authorization of the herd immunity vaccination system, we as a nation hope for a better future and better prospects to our lives and lifestyle. With the unlocking and reopening, India is propitious and affirmative for a back to normal life ahead.
By
Aswathy Alex
Deer B
