With India reporting nearly 50,000 corona cases daily in the last few days, the situation is too alarming. In a first, India's daily addition to coronavirus tally has crossed the 50,000 mark, with the country recording over 5,0500 in last 24 hours on Monday. The total Corona tally in India now stands at 1,436,019, including over 32,800 deaths.
However, governments-both union and states- look relaxed, not serious enough to not take note of the devastation the killer virus is playing with Indians. Modi govt is more busy playing rhetoric on China and Pakistan. And there are states like Bihar where govt is playing fiddle. Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar hasn't come out of his shell since the outbreak of the deadly virus. .So are his ministers. The BIMARU state is not only hit by corona but also ravaged by flood. Similarly, corona hard hit Rajasthan is beset with political uncertainty with horse-trading being carried out openly and shamelessly. And in Madhya Pradesh that saw a govt in power by engineering defections, the chief minister, has been infected by the coronavirus and is hospitalized. So if a chief minister is not safe from corona, how can country protect the common men? Very poor state of affairs.
India need to learn from countries like Cuba and Vietnam. Vietnam has raised alarm after fresh corona cases were reported in the country after months.It has closed the city of Da Nang to tourists after four new locally transmitted coronavirus were recorded,first since April. No tourists can enter the city for 14 days and extra flights are being laid on to fly out up to 80,000 visitors.
Vietnam has been lauded as a success story of the pandemic having acted early to close borders and enforce quarantine and contact tracing. It has recorded just over 400 cases and no deaths.
Cuba is among countries weathering the coronavirus pandemic better than others. The reasons are obivious, It has free universal healthcare and world’s highest ratio of doctors to population. It has a highly educated population and advanced medical research industry, including well-equipped laboratories.
Cuba’s reaction to the coronavirus threat was swift. A “prevention and control” plan was prepared as early as in January 2020. So, when the first three corona cases were confirmed on March 11, arrangements were in place to trace and isolate contacts, mobilise medical students for nationwide door-to-door surveys to identify vulnerable people and check for symptoms.
The moment 21 cases were reported on March 20, the Cuban government announced a ban on tourist arrivals, lockdown for vulnerable people, provision for home working, reassignment of workers to priority tasks, employment protection and social assistance.
The country of 11.2 million has recorded just under 2,200 cases and 83 deaths from the virus By the first week of June Cuba was without a death from corona.The Cuban government announced last Sunday that there were no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time in 130 days.
Nothing is more important for an civilized country than lives of its citizens. Ad if more than 500 people die daily, and over 50,000 get infected because of corona, it calls for urgent emergency measures. All other things can wait. Act now before its too late.
(Chander Sharma)
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