The quarantine facilities in India are not properly run and people are complaining about the bad behavior of the health authorities. In fact, even health workers are complaining about not being properly equipped. An important issue which the government should consider is the psychological health of quarantined people. Quarantine can cause many psychological problems.
To overcome these outcomes, the government must properly train the people of taking care of quarantine places. The government must also give people as much information as possible by telling them what and why this is happening and when it will end, provide them with meaningful entertainment/activities, educate them, provide adequate supplies of food, medicine, internet and a safe space for meeting relatives and friends.
There are many people in our neighbourhood and in our housing societies who are poor; so it’s time for us to help them out and give them the real message of humanity. Hence, I request everyone to please help your needy neighbours and let nobody sleep without food because being human is our responsibility, just as our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Love your neighbour just as you love yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
Many people also keep blaming the Coronavirus pandemic on globalisation, and they say that the only way to stop more outbreaks is social distancing and to de-globalise the world, stop working or going to offices and universities, restrict travel, build walls and reduce trade. However, short-term isolation is important to stop the epidemic, but long-term isolation will lead to economic collapse and downfall without offering any real protection against this disease.
We need to keep one thing in mind that the actual antidote to Corona-virus is not isolation, but rather co-operation. Years ago, epidemics like Spanish flu, plague, Ebola and Cholera killed billions of people all over the world and it was long before the current age of globalisation. The history of epidemics teaches us that we cannot really stop these epidemics from spreading just by closing borders and get isolated because even in the Middle Ages, they spread rapidly.
The real protection comes from sharing scientific information which is reliable and it comes from global unity. When one country suffers from pandemic, it should be able to share the true information about the outbreaks without fear of economic calamity while other countries should trust that information and provide a helping hand rather than showing a cold shoulder to the victim. Lock downs are essential for stopping the spread of the virus, but it could also lead to economic collapse.
Humanity needs to guard the borders between the human world and virus-sphere but not borders between countries.
If the epidemic results in closer global co-operation, it will be a victory not only against the Corona-virus, but against all future viruses too.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
