The threatening call of the novel COVID-19 has now been heard even by the Indians. This virus with its long gestation period is now spread across 180 countries leading to a death rate of 15,361. The disease marked its beginning in December 2019 in the Wuhan province of China, when a cluster of pneumonia cases with an unknown reason was reported in the region. The disease was heard to have its links to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale market and was termed of having a zoonotic origin.
Whatever be its place of creation, this virus has proved to be disastrous for mankind. The coronavirus is cunning and works on only one principle, of mingling with all without any invitation, so much so that it is asymptomatic in nature. It would have already attacked a human body and that person would still feel healthy as usual days.
Leaving no stone unturned in infecting the entire world and making even the well-developed nations come to their feet, this disease discriminates nobody on the basis of nationality, poverty or age. It treats all as its host cell and has therefore been successful in conquering the human immune system. This micro-organism has proved that no cash, technology, or luxury can subdue and battle it out.
The virus, which has its visibility reliance on a mere piece of the microscopic lens, has proven that its size doesn’t matter when it comes to covering a mammoth 510 million kilometre square of the earth in just a small span of time.
Looking on how the world has been battling against it indefatigably, the media has been reporting on it 24/7. The media can be considered a silver lining for some countries like India, which received continuous warnings due to which they got enough time for preparation. This pandemic has erased the boundaries between countries and has brought all humans beings together. The real application of an age-old Sanskrit Proverb, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ now comes into the picture, which means the world is one family. Just like a family, we are all responsible for each other’s well being.
As the virus is highly contagious, it’s very crucial for all of us to stay together with our families inside our homes, so that our larger family called the world remains safe. Recently, the world was undergoing the risk of entering World War III, but now the same people are united to rage a war against their one common enemy, the coronavirus.
The pandemic has bound those nations, those human values together which were on the verge of disintegration. The world has developed a sense of mutual care and responsibility towards each other. COVID-19 has created a relationship of one heart to the other. The most crucial work is being done by our medical staff and the cleaning department who have been working tirelessly, even by endangering their own lives.
The emergence of such fatal diseases in the 21st century such as Ebola virus, Nipah and the novel Coronavirus has raised a question of why these pandemics/epidemics are breaking out one by one even when medical science and technology have reached their zenith. The answer to this question has to be in the form of research, which is the need of the hour.
Rather than politicising and criticising, it should be each individual’s duty to isolate themselves behind their doors and refrain from socialising. Since, there is already a scarcity of beds, ventilators and adequate medical staff, it becomes even more important for people to come together with the common motive of eradicating this virus.
At last, it needs to be reasoned out with the world why nature is bringing out such novelty in its way of treating human beings. Is it the karmic cycle responsible for all this calamity? This needs to be acknowledged and figured out soon without any due negligence. Otherwise, it would be too late to be traced out and homo sapiens would face extinction just like the dinosaurs!