Has Covid-19 gone? If you think yes, you are not alone. Large chunks of people across continents and countries believe the same. There are still the cautious, those who advise there should not be laxity in Covid-appropriate behaviour. To the majority of world denizens, however, the novel coronavirus is on the retreat or has retreated. Therefore, the assertion in most quarters why vaccine mandates—masks and social distancing, all should not be thrown in the bin?
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau panicked when he got news of the anti-vax truckers heading for Ottawa. He ran and hid. People started calling him Coward-19! The name has stuck. Prime Ministers should have thick skin. Trudeau should have learned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
There are Canadians doing the comparison and Justin is coming second best to Modi. Justin invoked the Emergencies Act and that is his downfall. Now, there are Canadians who are tweeting if India has “room” for Canadians who are against Trudeau’s “dictatorial makeover.”
Trudeau should have known that the situation developing on the US-Canada border was in his favour. He should have opted to “wait and watch.” The farmers’ protests in India pitted farmers against the Government and popular sympathies were with the farmers. In Canada, the truckers were fighting vaccine mandates and the overwhelming support was for vaccine mandates. The truckers were putting everybody at risk.
Trudeau could have just waited it out. But he chose to pull in the heavy artillery, giving a morale boost to the anti-vaxxers, not just in Canada and the USA, but worldwide. Now, there are Indians who are comparing Trudeau with Indira Gandhi, and his Emergencies Act with Indira’s ‘Emergency.’ Let’s be candid, Justin Trudeau goes into history with the ‘Emergencies’ tag etched on his forehead.
This, when the World Health Organization is warning that the retreat of Omicron does not mean that the novel coronavirus is not hovering over our heads. The Delta variant hit us bad and the death toll touched unexpected heights. Today, there seems to be a lull in Omicron, but that does not mean the coronavirus will stop mutating further and not come out with a deadlier variant.
The problem is people everywhere are thinking that the worst is over, and countries across the globe are announcing new and less stringent Covid-19 rules. Indians are walking the streets like there never was a pandemic. The very public election rallies are back with a vengeance after a stint of virtual rallies with the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister leading the way.
Chemists in the cities are reporting drastic fall in mask sales. Markets are milling with the milieu. Colleges and schools have reopened. There are also colleges and schools which are preparing to open. There should have been stricter adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour, which it isn’t because everyone is in celebration mode. There is a sense of bravado due to the fewer deaths from Omicron.
It is the same world over. Britain doesn’t even want the legal need to self-isolate for the corona-positive anymore. Masks and vaccine passports went early for the English. Reports say Denmark has junked booster shots for children and the “fourth shot” for adults. Restrictions have also been given the go by in Sweden and Norway, and portions of Germany.
In the United States, masks are not paramount anymore in many states though there is an ongoing war between the masked and the unmasked. In the US, whether children should report to schools in masks is the big talking point. POTUS Joe Biden insists on masks, but the Republicans are fighting him tooth and nail.
In Washington DC, the mayor wants masks to go. This is when the coronavirus has not thought it’s time to quit the country. Mind you, the average recorded daily cases of Covid-19 hasn’t dropped much from what it was in 2020 and 2021. Omicron continues to be highly transmissible and there is no knowing when a new variant will strike.
The sad fact is the WHO is not in control. China routinely hijacks the role of the WHO and is disturbed only when things go from bad to worse in some or the other region in the People’s Republic. To make things worse, North Korea has threatened to shoot Chinese from across the Yalu river, alleging that China’s Corona-positives were sneaking into N. Korea, which claims it has not a single case of Covid-19.
India reported 30,615 additional corona-positives on February 15. This took India’s total cases so far to 4,27,23,558. Active cases fell to 3,70,240. Death toll mounted to 5,09,872. But only 514 died on February 15. Mumbai recorded zero deaths. Bollywood music composer Bappi Lahiri died of sleep apnea after a bout of Covid-19 a month ago. India’s Covid-managers say the “situation is getting better.” Assam has removed all covid curbs. Mind you we don’t really know if the coronavirus has left or not. IPA Service