COVID -19 UK CASES – 78,610

The number of COVID-19 cases recorded yesterday in UK, has been the highest recorded on a single day, since the onset of the pandemic. Last year nearly the same time, after the Delta variant loitering around for more than a month of sure, UK was forced for lockdown, the pangs of which continued till June / July 2021. Leave aside the utility of it, if not health intelligence, at least information about the occurrence of new variants is getting known, all across the globe in no time. How much of the knowledge and experience of this pandemic gained so far,  has made us wiser, given our handling of it; at the individual, community and government levels, only posterity would be able to give a judgment. *For the present we can just repeat the adage, wise men learn by other’s experiences and fool’s not even by their own.

Wishing away the real is not hope. Being in a house set on fire and not trying to escape is not what civilization has taught us. Going by the judgment of the experts in the field is certainly better than what we can think and decide, inclusive of governments, who find it very difficult to comprehend and can never predict the expected. That when it comes to health issues, messing it up with other issues, related to governance, politics, and even economics does not cut ice. The vision gets blurred and the capability to decide becomes difficult. The Omicron variant has already reached 77 countries and in most likely the numbers would be much more than what is being officially reported Have we not been able to find an effective way to stop the spread, but for just the breaking news figures.

In India too, we have had our round of learning the hardest way, during the second wave. Have endless cremation pyres, dead bodies floating in rivers, and deaths because of lack of oxygen, not been able to teach us a lesson. Kumbh or W. Bengal elections are all still etched in public memory, we believe. But if we go by the way we are behaving, inclusive of leaders and governments, it seems as if we have signed a legal agreement of ceasefire or non-invasion with the virus. We were living in similar situations preceding the second wave, there was the lull before the storm. We had declared the end of the pandemic. Paperwork preparation was the order of the day then, it is the same again. We get ready for retrospective situations and leaving the prospective challenges to bite us.

Life without effort, preparation and discipline is our hallmark. Dithering is our engine of progress. Gunnar Myrdal in his book titled the Asian Drama, talked about nations in SouthEast Asia as Soft States, nations which were incapable to take harsh decisions and take it through. We were indecisive on the issue of advances to vaccine manufacturers for getting our quota of doses. Then on lots of issues related to the second dose, children still have not come into its fold and the story goes on. The pace of vaccination, free or paid, all messed up with our lives. Now too, vaccine hesitancy has not been fully broken. With Omicron looming large and the effectiveness of boosters proven, the decision might still come later and sooner. And the less said about the proper use of masks, sanitizers, and social distancing. The social functions are happening as if there is no tomorrow. Enforcement we don’t believe in. Suffice to say, it seems likely, with all our modern capabilities, COVID-19 might end up plaguing us longer than the Spanish Flu, a century ago.