EDITORIAL | Have we become immune to COVID-19?
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK:
Have we dropped our guard? One can win a 100-metre race in seconds, but a marathon can take days or weeks and is something the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us.
So far, the world has suffered deep sociological and economic scars. By the time the fire began spreading around February and mid-March 2020, it turned into nightmare-lockdowns, remote-learning and disruption in global supply chains.
Coming back to India, the leadership which it has shown in delivering necessary medicine and vaccines to small countries has been nothing less but exemplary.
However, it seems that we, the people, have forgotten that COVID-19 is still alive and kicking. We cannot maintain discipline and act like small children in the face of adversity.
Just recently, India recorded 26,291 fresh COVID-19 cases in a single day. Now, this requires a lot of thinking. With the introduction of the vaccine, why are we still reporting such cases?
ALSO READ:
Also Read: EDITORIAL | The Wuhan Chapter: Did COVID-19 really originate in China?
The answer is simple. We have become complacent and selfish. One may also consider this an insult to frontline workers who have been at the helm right from the start.
With new variants of the virus coming in from South Africa, the United Kingdom and Brazil, we must get back to the drawing board and rethink our preventive measures.
This is where an article written by two renowned authors in foreign affairs under the name ‘The Pandemic That Won’t End COVID-19 Variants and the Peril of Vaccine Inequity’ by Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olshaker on March 8, 2021, should be read widely by scholars, journalists, scientists and political leaders.
Re-opening our borders to various travel destinations or educational institutions should not come at a high price.
The public should be well sensitised on the importance of COVID appropriate behaviour from mask-wearing to social distancing (physical distancing) or hand washing. The government should also enforce strict fines or laws.
ALSO READ:
Also Read: India records highest single-day spike in 85 days with 26,291 fresh COVID-19 cases
Nowadays, we see people walking around in public with no masks on. It is as though many of the people out there are confident that the virus is gone, and they no longer need to adhere to any preventive measure.
Although Northeast India has done a fine job in the fight against COVID-19, sharing around 5,182 kilometres of the international border is a catch-22 situation.
Therefore, the media must take on a central role in disseminating correct information to the public. The press should work towards ethical and well-balanced reporting to cut across seams.
Conspiracy theories such as bio-engineered weapon require a great deal of understanding and deep research, even though they are a ‘pandora box’.
To win this war, we have to adapt, improvise and remain vigilant. We cannot afford to become complacent.
ALSO WATCH:
