The global novel coronavirus pandemic is gradually taking a toll on all nations across the globe. The virus that initially originated in China’s Hubei province of over 58 million inhabitants has now spread into the absolute majority of sovereign states in the world. It has infected more than 2.1 million people to date and this number is increasing at an alarming rate each and every day.
Hubei’s capital city of Wuhan was the first global epicenter of the virus. When China’s government announced restrictive measures in the province, attempting to contain the virus, the global media and western governments reacted differently. Some considered such restrictions to be too much, blaming China’s government for overusing the power and oppressing its citizens. Nevertheless, at that stage, not much was known about the virus, its mortality rate or containment process.
From that very point up until today, the virus has progressed unprecedentedly. China’s epidemic, which was largely considered catastrophic seems like nothing in comparison to nations in Europe and the United States that have over 2,000 cases per 1 million people. The United States is clearly the epicenter of the current global situation as the nation nears 700,000 cases and 30,000 deaths. The state of New York is particularly highly affected as it was the original epicenter in the United States.
European nations, especially Italy which struggled the most at an early stage, are not looking optimistic either. The number of infections keeps going up on a daily basis in Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. The United Kingdom is headed towards unprecedented turmoil as well, amid one of the fastest growth rates on the continent. As a result, the cabinet of the United Kingdom made a decision to extend emergency lockdown restrictions for at least 3 weeks.
Some countries are seeing slight decreases in the number of new COVID-19 cases. A number of nations, such as Austria, Spain, and Denmark are planning to start gradually relaxing restrictions currently in place. However, considering how contagious the virus is, the expectation is that ignoring social distancing even under limited circumstances could fuel the spread once again. Italy reopened baby product shops but the northern region of Lombardy kept them closed, fearing that even this small step towards going back to normal could result in skyrocketing numbers.
The Virus in India
Naturally, the virus spread into Asian nations with heavy China traffic first. India is one of those countries as the first confirmed novel coronavirus case was reported on January 30th. This obviously caused massive shockwaves in a country of over 1.3 billion people. India is far from being rich and along with alarming poverty rates, the nation also has difficult geographical terrain and low human development. All of these combined makes fighting against the widespread virus more difficult in many smaller and richer countries.
However, with aggressive and in time measures, India managed to contain the virus up until this point in April 2020. As for now, the country of a billion has only 12,700 reported cases and 423 deaths. This is an astonishing achievement for India, a nation that saw its first case back in January.
The fast spread is already evident in businesses across the country. Many industries are shrinking, while remote sectors are starting to flourish.
Due to the relatively strong tech companies operating from India, most citizens managed to retain their jobs and are continuing to work from home, but those not fortunate to be employed in these companies are still managing to flourish as well as consumers. According to several sources, hundreds of Indian casinos have started to match promotions towards the lockdown orders in the country, thus managing to reach millions of new customers across the whole country.
This certainly follows the global trend as the same happened in countries like Italy, Spain, the United States, and Iran. The best Indian online casino reported record traffic along with others in the industry. The digital gambling sector is set to see important gains in the coming month. Moreover, food deliveries and streaming services are also benefiting from India’s nearing crisis.
Unfortunately, the future of the virus containment in India is under a great threat as Aprils started off with a spiking number of new cases. April first saw over 600 cases in a single day, a massive increase from 160, which was the highest one-day number recorded before. Therefore, the country is now facing a potential massive spread of the virus. In the case of the community spread, millions might contract the virus.
Government’s Approach
Despite the immense expansion of the virus in India, the government remains reluctant to take more drastic measures. This particularly concerns the testing part as the current algorithm used by healthcare authorities does not encourage nation-wide fast testing. Instead, the government aims to track down clusters and fight against the virus in small epicenters across the nation. Nevertheless, the fact is that the community spread has begun and only increased testing can save more from contracting the virus.
The ministry of health, in their daily press briefings, announced, that the government is coordinating with WHO in an attempt to create more efficient surveillance and action plan against COVID-19. During the briefing, health authorities also mentioned that a total of over 2.9 million tests have been conducted across the nation. However, the government keeps being focused on regional approach, rather than introducing further nation-wide regulations.
Why Containment Should Not Be the Strategy Anymore
India, luckily, has examples of tens of major countries in different parts of the world that have tried out a variety of methods in an attempt to contain or fight against the spread. All of the examples show that containment is effective in smaller countries and is efficient until the community spread starts. When that happens, not much can be done to prevent further spread.
At that stage of the progression, governments start implementing aggressive measures, asking their citizens to remain at home under all circumstances. In India, the level of awareness among the members of the general public is low regarding the issue. The government should make sure that everyone understands the rules, which as well should be set shortly.
In small states like Kerala, containment was highly effective at an early stage. However, now it is time to impose nation-wide restrictions on the mobility of citizens, as well as on particular economic activities. Otherwise, if the country keeps trying to contain the virus at a regional level, instead of flattening the curve, it might head towards an uncertain future.
