The second wave of Covid-19 seems to have arrived in Jammu and Kashmir where more than 400 cases were reported on April 1, the highest daily infection rate so far this year. There has been a slow and steady rise in the number of coronavirus infections in other parts of the country. The virus that has killed 2.78 million people globally and more than 127 million people have been infected. The first wave of the virus overwhelmed the medical care sector to the point that hospitals started running out of bed capacity while the critically ill patients were asked to stay home and get treated symptomatically. In many cases, doctors were faced with the tough choice of letting an old man die for the want of ventilator and divert it to save a younger life. These hard choices brought out the best and the worst in the people affected by the pandemic. In India, there have been more than 12 million infections and over one lakh sixty five thousand people have perished due to the virus. By and large, however, the situation has remained in control in India. The central government led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken effective and remedial measures to ensure that the spread of the Covid infection is curbed while people don’t suffer during the harsh lockdown periods. Beginning with the Unlock 1.0 phase, incentives were thrown at industry which has suffered due to the suspension of the economic activity. Perks were also doled out to certain sectors including the traders and tourism players in Jammu and Kashmir who suffered blow after blow by the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir first and then by the economic lockdown triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coronavirus is beginning to rear its ugly head yet again. Over the past four weeks there has been a steady and sharp rise in both fresh cases and mortalities. J&K saw over 300 cases on March 28 which is almost triple the cases reported a month ago. This is quite expected, given that the economy has started to open up. However, it also point to the fact that people have lowered their guard. Even though the humanity’s survival instinct has crossed many milestones and a vaccine is available in a record time in the market for anyone to buy, it will be still many months before the world can be at peace with itself. According to the WHO, the story of Covid-19 is unlikely to get over very soon. Economic lockdowns are not an answer. Instead, it is the responsibility of citizens to follow SOPs which will prevent the spread of infection.
