Corona Virus outbreak has forced nationwide lock-downs all around the globe in an attempt to stop the spreading of this highly contagious virus. While many countries have been able to control the spreading of the virus through lock-down, many other nations, including India are struggling hard to control it. According to WHO, it might take around 2-5 years for the eradication of COVID-19. Lock-down is the most crucial and effective way to fight the pandemic, but it has its disadvantages. Millions of people are losing their jobs, migrant workers, informal workers and daily wage earners are struggling for food and transportation services to reach their hometowns. Economies are observing major slowdown and continuation of lock-downs for long, could bring serious consequences for lives of people all around the world. It is practically impossible for any nation to shut down its economic, social and other important activities for a considerably long duration.
There is an urgent need for nations to tackle the pandemic while taking care of their economic and social activities. This means that we all need to learn to live with COVID-19 and bring about changes in our ways of living and working, in order to prevent the spreading of the virus. Many nations have lifted their lockdown fully or partially according to the situation regarding the disease, while many others have extended their lockdown with some relaxations.
India is still under partial lock-down, and the lock-down rules have been eased and few commercial activities have been permitted and sooner or later the lock-down would be completely lifted, but the danger of contracting the deadly virus would persist for a couple of years. The world needs a foolproof plan to ensure the safety of its people through the pandemic. Every individual needs to participate in the fight against COVID – 19, right from personal level to national level all activities must be carried out keeping in mind the basic preventive measures
A wholesome approach to tackle COVID-19, involving these preventive measures is needed at various levels:
Personal hygiene and protection
- Every individual must make it a habit to wash hands with soap or sanitize hands regularly throughout the day and avoid touching face.
- Every individual must wear a mask before leaving home and also while attending any outsider.
- Every food item or consumable must be washed or sanitized thoroughly immediately after it is brought inside the house.
- Children must be taught the importance of personal care and hygiene by their parents at home and teachers at schools. Demonstrations and workshops about COVID -19 are more effective ways to bring awareness amongst children. Animated series that show popular comic characters regularly washing and sanitizing hands and taking preventive measures would create a larger impact.
- Sanitizer must be carried by every individual while going out and used every time after touching surfaces in public places.
- Every shop, public transportation mean and public place must provide and use hand sanitizer.
Social distancing and isolation
- At personal level, every individual must maintain 6 feet distance from others in large or small public places.
- People should avoid going out unless necessary and should avoid unnecessary social –gatherings.
- Number of people using public transport at a time, must be restricted strictly.
- Important public places like schools, offices etc. could adopt the “33% rule”, according to which number of people present on a day could be restricted to 33%, another set of 33% people could attend the following day and so on.
- People should prefer online shopping and home delivery of goods, food items and other essential supplies.
- People should avoid using public transport as far as possible.
- Work – from-home should continue wherever possible.
Sanitization
- People should sanitize surfaces at home regularly.
- All public places and public transportation means must be sanitized on regular basis.
- Sanitization chamber/tunnel should be installed at the entrance and exit of large public places.
- Sanitization through vehicles and drones must be performed in containment zones.
- Municipalities should carry out sanitization drives in their respective wards.
Healthcare
- Thermal screening of people must be performed at the entrance of all public places and also at the entrance gate of residential localities.
- There must be adequate and continuous supply of personal protection equipment for health-care workers and essential service providers.
- Strengthening of immune system must be encouraged among people through proper guidance.
- It should become mandatory for every individual to download and use “Aarogya Setu app”.
- People who test positive for COVID-19 , those who are in contact with COVID- 19 positive people and those suffering with COVID-19 symptoms must isolate themselves or must be sent to quarantine centers.
- Research and development activities must be supported by the government in all possible ways.
- All nations must support each other, co-operate and collaborate to prevent the pandemic from spreading and to fulfil the medical requirements (medicines, equipment, information and technology) of one another.
Law enforcement
- Any activity that could lead to the spreading of COVID-19 must be declared as a punishable offence.
- There must be a strict law to ensure social distancing and restricted movement.
- People travelling across district borders and state borders must be scrutinized thoroughly.
- International travelling without a valid purpose must be prohibited for at least an year.
Innovation
“Necessity is the mother of all inventions” – the proverb has been proved by corona-stricken population. COVID-19 has inspired many innovations all around the world as people are getting desperate to free this world from the deadly virus. from common men to scientists, people are coming up with great ideas to deal with the difficult situation.
As it is said “a new generation of problems requires new approaches”, here are some of the recent innovations that would help a lot in this tough time :
- Robotics
Many hospitals in India and abroad, are using robots to perform duties of nurses for ensuring safety of health-care workers.
- Makeshift hospitals
The highly contagious nature of COVID-19 leads to an exponential increase in number of patients and to tackle this problem, many countries have converted large public places into makeshift hospitals. Indian railways have converted few trains into hospitals for treating COVID-19 patients which is indeed a great initiative.
- Social distancing arrangements
As restaurants, shops, saloons have opened in many countries, their owners have come up with great ideas for ensuring social distancing.
A restaurant in Netherlands has created these glass houses for the safety of customers.
Social distancing simplified at a shop in India
- Touch –free technology
People are advised to avoid touching surfaces as a preventive measure, and now it’s time to move to touch –free technology. An 11th grade student from Delhi had recently created a touch-free doorbell for the safety of his family. Many more similar inventions are needed to stop the virus from spreading, especially in public places. Touch free yet authorised access is the need of the hour.
COVID-19 has challenged every aspect of life and has acquainted us with our unpreparedness. Our claims of being an intelligent species have been refuted and our “advanced world” is helpless before a tiny virus. We are in a state of confusion and uncertainty. Even the most developed nations have failed to protect its people and most human activities have come to a standstill. our sustainability has been questioned.
At the commencement of 2020, many targets related to UN sustainable goals had been achieved and nations were working progressively towards the achievement of the 17 SDGs by 2030. But nobody had seen a pandemic coming and causing tremendous disruption. The SDGs were not designed considering a pandemic. It is time to rethink and redesign the SDGs to prepare the world for such catastrophe in future.
