In the past year, there have been several fluctuations in both, the spread of Covid- 19 as well as the level of precaution which is taking place due to the terror of the same. Initially the relation between the threat posed by the virus and the terror experienced by the public was proportional and quite easy to predict. As the amount of people getting infected rose, the awareness and fear within people also increased. It was post the first wave of the virus that the complications commenced.
Talking from an Indian viewpoint, the second wave of SARS Coronavirus was far more deadly than the prior simply due to the fact that, in the eyes of the common man, the daily routine had already begun. Everything was back to normal and seemingly so, at that time, the virus was depleting. Firstly, The second wave was far more deadly than the first one because the Indian population is less afraid of contracting the novel coronavirus and more of the economic plight, leading to a higher number of people stepping out of their houses. Secondly, the lack of awareness has also been a major factor in the spread of the disease. This virus isn’t publicized enough as compared to the time it initially became threatening. Thirdly, due to the introduction of vaccines by the government and numerous other firms, the public has a false sense of security against the virus. Out of all the vaccines introduced, as of yet, only 3 have been approved by the FDA. 1. Pfizer-BioNTech (95% efficacy)
- Moderna (94.1% efficacy) 3. Johnson & Johnson (72% efficacy). While these effectiveness rates are evidently impressive, what remains ignored is the fact that these figures are only applicable to the original strains of the virus and not the recently discovered mutations. A second problem resulting from the introduction of vaccines is misinformation about the dosage. People in India, after taking incomplete dosage of the vaccine regain the false sense of security and quite easily come in contact with Covid-19.
The government holds a vital role in monitoring and controlling novel coronavirus. While initially, the premeditated implementation of a lockdown was relatively effective as compared to what could have been, provided the population density of this developing country. Now it seems that religious, political and financial stability have been prioritized instead of human lives. People are holding religious gatherings in massive numbers without any precaution whatsoever. Instead of trying to aid and assist the current government, opposition parties opt to criticize their shortcomings and in the attempt to maintain the economy of the nation a new lockdown has not yet been imposed. To be fair, they have with all their might imposed night curfews and short lockdowns but, to be blatant, it is simply not that effective.
To sum up, what we have observed the past year is that despite the threat of Covid-19 rising, a false sense of security and underestimation of the same has resulted in the fear of the virus going down which only results in amplifying this threat.
