Strike of Second Wave of Covid19 in India

Sreyasi Purkait

‘Covid19’ such a small name yet it is capable of causing huge havoc and mayhem. Scientifically speaking this virus came from us eating animals and that is not a surprise.

The truth is that each and every animals have millions of viruses inside them and each one of them can kill us.

In the past we got Ebola from bats in the Congo, Mers from camels in Saudi Arabia, H1N1 from pig in the U.S. and Mexico and now Covid19 from bats in China.

Because of this Covid19 thousands of lives were gone and trillions of dollars were lost and for developing country like us our economy went down and it sets us back 10 years in fighting poverty.

And all for what?

Because someone likes the taste of weird wild animals!

And that's quite unfair!

we are all suffering because of the actions of few.

I’m not trying to tell you to stop eating meat, because I know being a non-vegetarian myself it’s very difficult to suddenly change your diet so you should eat meat if you want!

But....eat clean meat and be a responsible meat eater.

Now coming to my own country India which is currently under the grip of Covid second wave which is much more deadlier and fast spreading. 

Few days back when Covid was at its peak around 3 lakhs 32 thousand cases was reported just in one day, this is how massive the virus was in India over a year into the pandemic.

And why is this happening in India?

Few months back the Covid cases in India dropped drastically and most people thought  the virus was  gone and was not anticipating the second wave. As a result people decided to go back to their pre- Covid  normal lives.

No more social distancing, no masks.

Celebrating festivals, political rallies, and as a result things soon got out of control.

And then the second wave hit very hard like a tsunami causing a wide spread havoc and mayhem.

Hospitals were flooded with patients, leaving many without any bed. Ventilators and  medicines were running short, there was a dangerously low  supply of oxygen support  for the patients all across the country causing many deaths. 

The spread of second wave was so huge that the chunk of population which remained unaffected during the first wave was drastically affected in this wave which included my own maternal family, close friends, teachers and relatives. This wave was so worse that every other person I knew was getting affected and many also lost their life.

During those days all I could see and hear was the siren of hearse carrying dead bodies.

But what makes this even harder to accept is that....

India is the World's largest vaccine maker!!

Since last year India has been giving away millions of vaccines to over 90 countries, which even made Headlines that

“Indian-made COVID vaccines will save the world”

Surprisingly until now only a little over 4% of India’s population has been vaccinated!

The worlds largest vaccine maker is far from being vaccinated as a nation.

So it seems that today as the virus is overtaking the entire nation its us who need it more than anyone else.

Finally I feel its high time to introspect and hold both public and govt accountable for this Covid disaster.

And on the part of govt, it needs to ramp up vaccination and ensuring sufficient supply of the required health support to those infected. 

On the part of general public we need to start following preventive measures like wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, using hand sanitizers and soap frequently and most importantly getting vaccinated.

If  this measures are not followed the next wave of pandemic is not far way.

*Student, Semester V Honours