Difficulties Across the Globe
By: Husnaa Fathima Ali A Khan
The novel coronavirus in just a few months has spread to almost every country, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands of people. Pre-COVID, families celebrated festivals in person and had dinner with their relatives without having to worry about wearing a mask or contracting a virus. Unfortunately, face masks have become the new norm of society, and will continue to be until a vaccine is developed and available to humanity.
The coronavirus has not respected any national or international borders, and does not discriminate against the healthiest or the most vulnerable. The resources that help keep people safe, such as personal protective equipment (PPE) have become a scarcity. Due to lockdowns, the economy and societies across the world are in chaos. In Asian countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, many people have lost their income necessary for living. As such they are unable to provide and care for their families which may have a profound impact on their lives. Besides this, camps for refugees and displaced persons worldwide are hotspots for virus susceptibility, and therefore there is concern about the slightest exposure to SARS-CoV2. It would lead to an apocalypse given the camps rampant crowding, malnutrition, stress, effectively feeding the breeding grounds for virus transmission.
“The coronavirus has not respected any national or international borders, and does not discriminate against the healthiest or the most vulnerable.”
Declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January, 2020, the popular statement “if one of us falls, we all fall” has been particularly heeded in times of crisis. To prevent people from contracting and passing COVID-19 to others, Social distancing has been implemented to protect ourselves and also the people around us. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic is and will continue to have a staggering toll on humans and the economy and while we cannot fully assess how this crisis will affect society countries across the globe are leading in the socio-economic response and will do everything in their capacity to build on the progress already made to ensure that this unprecedented opportunity allows for a more sustainable future for all.