IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN INDIA: AN AWFUL HISTORY STILL IN THE MAKING”
ABSTRACT
Jha
Pranav Kumar[1]
“If we need to really unravel the problem, we need to collaborate, create collectives, and take solutions at scale”-Ravi Venkatesan
The intervention of virus
or flu is nothing new to the world, it had left unprecedented famine or
disaster wherever spread. History says whenever people have tried to play with
the nature; it has retaliated in its worst form. Till they realize its adverse
effect, things go out of control and curse the human civilisation making it
hell to survive resulting breathless days and nights. Unfortunately, the truth
of any human being is that, until things go above head it is taken lightly and
presumed to be non-perpetual. It’s high time when people must realize that we
all should stand with the principle of “Vasudev Kutumbakam” that means that the
whole world is one single family. It is a time for international unity, not
playing politics with public health. As it has become unambiguous that WHO
(World Health Organization) has affirmed COVID-19 to be a pandemic. More than
200 nations are making out to contain the multiplicity of the disease and
consequent human life losses with social distancing by way of lockdowns. Our
nation has developed a common consensus to combat the pandemic with unbeatable
measures keeping concern with global approaches and guidelines from the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Ministry of Home Affairs. In the
unifying fortitude of involvement, the Government is appealing with all
citizens to battle the virus. The country's infrastructure is united to support
all containment methods while ensuring safety and sustenance of lives of all
social strata. Policy, plans and announcements from stakeholders in all
essential sectors such as Railways, Civil Aviation, Transport and Finance
specify the vigilance to collaboratively combat the pandemic. This article
focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on Society and International relationship.
Where everyone is on the same table of death and can only survive by support of
public at large by maintaining social distancing and following the prescribed
guidelines.
Key Words- Pandemic,
COVID-19, Lockdown, Impact, Society, International Relation.
INTRODUCTION
Let us understand the word
‘pandemic’ with the basics; a disease is ‘endemic’ if it’s common to a certain
area. So, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
the amount of a particular disease that’s usually present in a community that’s
referred to as the endemic level, when that level spikes up, you get an
‘epidemic’, an outbreak across a region or country or may be even multiple
countries. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2013 was an epidemic. But, a
pandemic that’s when an epidemic goes global. It’s a whole new disease that we
don’t really have immunity to fight. It’s crossing borders and continents,
spreading quickly from person to person, infecting a large number of people
resulting high death toll. Therefore, the word ‘Pandemic’ is said to be a
disease prevalent over a whole country or the world. That’s why WHO (World
Health Organization) has confirmed COVID-19 to be a ‘pandemic’. The prevailing
virus nomenclated as ‘Coronavirus,’ has led to a massive outbreak throughout
the globe. The coronavirus has been wreaking havoc throughout the globe since
the start of the year. We haven’t experienced a pandemic of this magnitude
since the Spanish Flu a century ago.
‘Coronaviruses’ are the
family of RNA viruses in the Nidovirales order. This virus is a significant
viral pathogens in human and animals causing life threatening disease. The term
“Coronavirus” having prefix- ‘Corona’ has been derived from a Latin word for
‘Crown’. It was named for crown like appearances of virus as shown below in
Fig. 1.
The virus has four
classifications- Alfa, Beta, Gamma and Delta. And human coronaviruses are alpha
and beta coronaviruses which we often talk about. These are medium-sized virus
that envelops a positive-stranded RNA and they are mostly very large viral RNA
genome known.
Hosts, Reservoirs and
Infected Animals
- Coronaviruses infect
both birds and mammals,
Bats are said to be hosts
to the largest number of viral genotypes of coronavirus. So, they don’t necessarily
get infected by the virus as their immune system is able to suppress these
viruses and just transmit to other birds and mammals. Epidemics can occur when
viruses transmit from one species to another which can shockingly acquire
mutations in proteins on their envelop that allow viruses to bind the cell and
affect other cells more easily. They develop new abilities to infect cells of
other species.
- With regards to
Humans,
Human-coronaviruses are
causes of both respiratory and gastrointestinal tract infections. And these
viruses are relatively common causes of illness in humans and it’s estimated to
account for 5-10 % of all adults’ respiratory tract infections anywhere from
“common cold” to pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). So,
there are wide varieties of signs and symptoms of coronaviruses. Some
coronaviruses can even cause GI i.e. gastrointestinal infections symptoms
including diarrhoea. So, when mutations occur the virus can be significant
causes of epidemics as entirely new species can be developed from it. We have
been seeing plethora of cases in the recent past where transmission of one
species to another has led to increase the outbreak of the virus thereby
enhancing mortality rate. One report demonstrated five cases of 2019-nCoV that
appeared to be transmitted by asymptomatic patients
CORONAVIRUSES: HISTORY OF
INFECTIONS
- Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) - 2002/2003
It seems to be started in
Guangdong (Province of China) and is itself a Beta-coronavirus and is said to
be in a category of lineage B- Coronavirus. It was believed that this
particular coronavirus had been transmitted from bats to civets and all the way
to humans. This led to a worldwide outbreak recorded as earliest February 2003
and it seems to have lasted until July 2003. Resources say there were more than
8000 total cases, 774 deaths, fatality rate of approx 9.6%.
- Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) - 2012
This started in Saudi
Arabia and it quickly spread to several countries. It itself is a
Beta-coronavirus as well. And what seems to occur here is this virus was said
to be transmitted from camels to humans. So, either by eating or exposure or by
drinking camel milk they have been infected. Study says more than 2400 cases,
858 deaths, and fatality rate of ~34.4% which is certainly very high.
- 2019 Novel Coronavirus
(2019-nCOV) - 2019
The newest one which has
come on the scene is expected to occur in December, 2019. This occurred in
Wuhan, Hubei (Province of China) of more than 11 million people getting
affected with "Pneumonia of Unknown Cause". It was observed that
there was an animal market in Wuhan that seems to be an epicentre for this
outbreak leading the seventh coronavirus to cause illness in humans. Unlike
SARS & MERS it is itself a Novel Beta-coronavirus sharing approximately 80%
sequence homology with SARS. Now, a question arises regarding its source of
transmission. Some early evidence suggests that it was transmitted from snakes,
but more likely from bats to human. As of now human to human transmission is
demonstrated in around 210 Countries and Territories around the world having
reported a total of 16,525,454 confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and
a death toll of 653,970 deaths[3] (till 27th July, 2020). Fig. 2 represents
the outline throughout the world. While India reported around 1,479,277 confirmed
cases having death toll of around 33,437 cases.[4] Like other coronaviruses, it can cause
respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Due to its ability the viral
proteins allow binding to respiratory and gastrointestinal cells which can lead
to variable respiratory and possible gastrointestinal symptoms. As a result of
which World Health Organization had declared a public health emergency on January
30, 2020. The virus has been unstoppably affecting various health care workers
and family members of patients. One report demonstrated five cases of 2019-nCoV
that appeared to be transmitted by asymptomatic patients. The review in the
“Journal of Travel Medicine” was institute that the estimated mean R0 for
COVID-19 around 3.28, with a median of 2.79 and IQR of 1.16, which was
noticeably higher than the WHO estimation at 1.95[5].
Fig 2: Representation of
distribution of cases throughout the world[6] (till 27th July,2020)
IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON
INDIAN SOCIETY
The best part of the Indian
society is that they have accepted the challenge and are very well aware of the
consequences of the non compliance of the guidelines. They have understood the
value of life and thereby reaming self quarantine wherever they are had become
the last resort to combat with the contamination of the virus. And with such a
huge population it is way more difficult to control rather unimaginable without
the support of the public at large. It was a very smart step of the government
to take such an initiative to announce nation wise lockdown at the early
footing of the virus as a result of which in terms of most affected country,
India lies at 11th position [7]. Where the highly affected being USA really
needs to have a strict implementation of rules to reduce the death toll.
In India when the 1st case
was reported in Kerala on 30th January, 2020 and the cases were gradually
increasing people were carefree then. However, after an announcement of 14 hour
janata curfew on 22nd march, prior to lockdown things started to gets serious
after-then as on that day the citizens took part in the curfew by just staying
at home. From their balcony, doorways or windows they clapped and rang bells in
appreciation for the person delivering essential services. 21 day i.e. (25th
March – 14th April) of National lockdown was announced by the Government. On
25th March, the first day of the lockdown, almost all services and factories
were pendant[8].
Some of the restrictions
were imposed on the citizens such as- People were banned from stepping out of
their homes, most of the services and shops were clogged except pharmacies,
hospitals, banks, grocery shops and other fundamental services, apart from
those commercial and private establishments were shut down and allowed to only
work-from-home. For students it might sound fun initially on suspension of all
educational, training, research institutions however they were made to join
zoom classes and do assignment from home. So that no public gathering may take
place all places of worship were closed. All non-essential public and private
transport were said to take rest. All sorts of all social, political, sports,
entertainment, academic, cultural, religious activities were hanged up.
As a result of which people
started to get panic resulting to rush buy of materials from the shop[9], and accordingly many were arrested[10] in violation of the home quarantine. In
mean while, isolation wards and quarantine centres started to take their pace
to moderate the prevailing situation. To ease the tension for the real warriors
who were battling against the pandemic and saving lives of plethora of victims,
on 5th April citizens all over India cheered and reflected solidarity with the
health workers, police and other fellow worker in that regard by switching off
their lights, and lighting candles, flashlight etc. for them for 9 minutes at 9
pm. Positively towards the end of the 1st session of lockdown , the
intensification of COVID-19 had considerably declined, from a rate of doubling
every three days before lockdown to one of doubling every eight days.[11] However, the lockdown was extended from
15th April to 3rd May as setting free was not a smart choice to be made.
Conversely a conditional relaxation was promised after 20th April onwards.
After having an empirical approach of the affected areas on 16th April,
lockdown areas were classified as "red zone", representing the
presence of infection hotspots, "orange zone" representing some
infection, and "green zone" with no infections[12]. After such a long time some relaxation was
given to the citizens especially for them lying in green zone. On 25th April,
small retail shops were permitted to open with half the staff maintaining
social distancing norms.[13] And on 29th April, the Ministry of Home
Affairs notified guidelines for the states to permit inter-state movement of
the trapped persons like students and tourists far from home[14]. Furthermore, additional extension was announced
from 4th May to 17th May in which the Government of India strategically split
the country into 3 zones: red zones (130 districts), orange zones (284
districts) and green zones (319 districts)[15].
IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC:
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIP
It’s unambiguous that now
everyone is sharing a common platform, and combating to save the humanity from
the pandemic. It has certainly created an adverse impact on the public at
large. Various public policies had to be reframed and make viable to the
affected community. Public policies shall take account of laws, rules,
regulations, judgments, case studies, government programs, etc. And in case of
COVID-19 it’s a matter of public safety and Sustenance of livelihood. A chief
objective of government is to protect the well-being of its people, most
crucially and visibly at the time of emergencies such as the recent outbreak of
the coronavirus.
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
At International level also
the battle is on active mode and on a global platform all are co-ordinating
with each other to come out from this grave situation. So, be it formation of
H1 drug i.e. hydroxychloroquine or PPE kit, all are disseminated keeping a
paramount consideration to save the human race. Certainly, this is not the time
to play game of politics so all are optimistically to taking it on a serious
note. Positively the International Monetary Fund has $50 billion available in
rapid-disbursing emergency financing to help countries suffering from the
virus. Not only that the IMF has announced immediate debt relief for 25 poor
countries to help them free up funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Subsequently, the World Bank announced that it would roll out USD 160 billion
in emergency aids over 15 months to help countries suffering by the virus,
including USD 14 billion in debt repayments from 76 deprived countries to other
governments[16]. As a trans-boundary crisis, COVID-19
reflects a paramount challenge to public leaders and their policy advisors, who
are likely to perform key functions like taking decisive action, handling
overwhelming amounts of data, constructing critical decisions regarding
resource allocations, and coordinating with stakeholders. WHO COVID-19 Incident
Management Team is functioning personally with partners across all levels to
provide sustenance to countries, fortify technical and operational networking
and collaboration, and support operational coordination of the global response.
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Approach of Indian
Government : Indian government has affirmatively launched various policies and
programs with help of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to slow down the
spread of the virus, as a result of which the situation has not become worst
yet.
Three intersecting sets of
legal regimes.
First, at the central
level, the government has invoked the National Disaster Management
Act, 2005[18]. Section 10 of the NDMA authorizes the
central authority to issue guidelines and directions to the several state
governments with respect to addressing disasters. The Authority’s Guidelines[19] issued on
24th March 2020, and supplemented by various addenda from time to time – required a closure of government
offices, commercial establishments, (with certain exceptions), industrial
establishments, transport services, hospitality services, places of worship,
large gatherings, and so on.
Secondly, several state
governments have invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897[20] a legislation that grants to the states
formally unlimited powers to prevent the outbreak or spread of an epidemic.
These Regulations intersect
more closely with the third legal regime, which separates Section 144[21] orders passed by individual
magistrates/Commissioners of Police.
Apart from that Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare has maintained transparency in resources at the time
of outbreak. Some of its cogent steps are-
- Advisory against
spraying of disinfectant on people for COVID-19 management[22].
- Central Medical
Services Society[23].
- Revised Guidelines for
Dialysis of COVID-19 Patients[24].
- Ayurveda’s immunity
boosting measures for self care during COVID 19 crisis[25].
- Pradhan Mantri Garib
Kalyan Package: Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19[26].
- Guidelines for
Quarantine facilities[27].
- Guidelines for
Handling, Treatment and Disposal of Waste Generated during
Treatment/Diagnosis/ Quarantine of COVID-19 Patients[28].
- Gazette Notification -
Hydroxychloroquine now a schedule H1 drug, can be sold on prescription
only[29].
Moreover, through a video
conference on March 25, leaders of the world’s major economies (G-20) stated
that they were devoted to restore confidence, preserve financial stability and
revive growth. They said they were firm to resolve disruptions to global supply
chains and pleaded finance ministers and central banks to synchronize regularly
with international organizations to widen an action plan in response to the
pandemic[30].
SUGGESTIONS
Some of the paramount steps government should entertain to fight against the pandemic-
Firstly effective communication, can act as a main pillar of crisis governance.
Secondly, adopting a whole-of-society approach shall be significant in this crisis.
Finally, implementing evidence-based strategies dependent on historical in addition to current data is vital.
Fig. 3 Illustration of Whole-Of-Society Approach
The diagram above in Fig. 3 depicts the whole-of-society approach[17]. It is illustrated by the three circles in the central point of the diagram: government, civil society, and business. The pyramids within each of the circles correspond to the levels within each sector (including sub national, local government, and community). The nine circles in the region of the disaster management continuum of readiness, response, and recovery symbolize nine key essential services).
CONCLUSION
We all are well aware of the
fact that there is no straight jacket formula to swing the magic wand and cure
the pandemic all of a sudden. There can be no ideal solution to the same still
research experiments are going on by our scientists throughout the world. We
know the impact of the virus is getting worst day by day. And in context to
India empirical approach suggests that if the statistics continue to show a
relatively low infection rate, then India will have helped lead the way in
containing coronavirus. And the same rule applies throughout the world. We all
just need to have the situational awareness through dissemination of basic
information. All together we can reduce the pandemic spread by curtailing
interactions with the symptomatic patient moreover help in diminishing susceptibility
towards public at large. Above all some things cannot be ignored that this is
the high time we must understand that nature is retaliating in its worst form.
And we all are given time to collect our shit together and understand the
meaning of sustainability. And I am quite sure that we shall stand strong and
develop physical as well as mental immunity to combat from any such
unprecedented pandemic. However, this lock-down has certainly gives everyone a
space to realize his potential in various facets. Lastly, we all pray the
Almighty to help us to come out from this pandemic and ease the state of
affairs as soon as possible.
[1] STUDENT, B.A.LL.B 4TH YEAR, DEPT. OF
LAW, ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, CENTRE MURSHIDABAD, WEST BENGAL
[2] Source- ALISSA ECKERT, DAN
HIGGINS/CDC https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/11/disease-caused-by-the-novel-coronavirus-has-name-covid-19/ viewed
on 26th April,2020
[3] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/countries-where-coronavirus-has-spread/ viewed
on 15th May,2020
[4] https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ viewed on 15th May,2020
[5] Journal of Travel Medicine, Volume 27,
Issue 2, March 2020, taaa021, https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa021 viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[6] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-cases/ viewed
on 15th May, 2020
[7] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ viewed
on 16th May
[8] Singh, Karan Deep; Goel, Vindu; Kumar,
Hari; Gettleman, Jeffrey (25 March 2020). "India, Day 1: World's Largest Coronavirus Lockdown
Begins". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
[9] Covid-19: People flock to wholesale markets in UP, West
Bengal amid lockdown, ANI, 24 March 2020
[10] Day 1 of coronavirus lockdown: India registers 101 new
cases, 3 deaths; Govt says working to deliver essential services".
India Today
[11] Gupta, Shekhar (18 April 2020). "Covid hasn't gone viral in India yet, but some in the
world & at home can't accept the truth". ThePrint.
Retrieved 2 May 2020.
[12]India coronavirus: All major cities named Covid-19 'red
zone' hotspots". BBC. 16 April 2020.
[13] Aleem, Zeeshan (25 April 2020). "India takes a small step toward relaxing its strict
lockdown". Vox.
[14] MHA allows movement of migrants, tourists, students stranded
at various places". Livemint. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April
2020
[15] Thacker, Teena (1 May 2020). "Centre issues state-wise division of Covid-19 red,
orange & green zones". The Economic Times
[16] https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/coronavirus-pandemic-imf-approves-debt-relief-for-25-poor-countries-1666865-2020-04-14 viewed
on 29th April, 2020
[17] https://www.who.int/influenza/preparedness/pandemic/2009-0808_wos_pandemic_readiness_final.pdf viewed
on 29th April, 2020
[18] https://ndma.gov.in/images/covid/MHAorder240320.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[19] https://ndma.gov.in/images/covid/Guidelines.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[20] https://indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/10469/1/the_epidemic_diseases_act%2C_1897.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[21] https://twitter.com/TheLeaflet_in/status/1241681267633967105/photo/1 viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[22]https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/AdvisoryagainstsprayingofdisinfectantonpeopleforCOVID19managementFinal.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[23] https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/MedicalOxygenCylinder.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[24] https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/RevisedGuidelinesforDialysisofCOVID19Patients.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[25] https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/ImmunityBoostingAYUSHAdvisory.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[26]https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/FAQPradhanMantriGaribKalyanPackageInsuranceSchemeforHealthWorkersFightingCOVID19.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[27] https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/90542653311584546120quartineguidelines.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[28] https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/63948609501585568987wastesguidelines.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[29] https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/218927g.pdf viewed
on 28th April, 2020
[30]https://tribune.com.pk/story/2186955/6-public-policy-pandemic/ viewed
on 28th April, 2020
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Worth reading this.
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