Testing Times

Heart Yearns for Love & Understanding - Praying for Peace - During these trying times - Part 3



Natural virus, Nationalist virus, Communial virus and here comes the new kind - the Corona Virus.

Communal Virus and riot ; Jihadi Virus, Christu virus, Hindutva virus; the debates on the latest one was still ongoing, case and investigation is till on. Natural virus/ disasters - where going round the corners, during last couple of years. Pandemics are not particularly new. In fact, COVID-19 is simply the latest in a long line of pandemics. But this one has a rather modern streak. Covid-19 has used the connectedness of our globalised world to spread. And spread with such speed and stealth, that containment — keeping the virus out — has proved to be almost impossible. This has errupted amidst, the much-peopled political dramas in Bhopal and Bangalore in connection with the unseating of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh and the ‘Coronation’ of the new one; along with 'Corona-ting' Ranjan Gogoi into Rajya Sabha, soon after his tenure as Supreme court Justice. The grand ga-ga/pomp and show of Trumps visit, appeared to disappeared into oblivion, amidst these tragedies. Well the fund maneuvering, and allocation to Gujarat, the spend, from MP fund. February was a wasted month. Not only at hindsight but even otherwise we can say, instead of Trump, Madhya Pradesh, once #Covid_19 detected, govt should have immediately moved on to strengthening the medical strength of the county. In hind sight it could have included, targeted lockdowns, building huge capacity in medical equipment, hospitals, talking to CMs. India has never been short of diseases. The Government had always had their priorities wrong. So many times, so many had emphasized the need for better hospitals, some had suggested that to be done, even on the disputed land of Ayodhya, which was laughed at. Cases: 2.79 million/year; Deaths: 435k /year. That's not Corona. That's TB in India, how it is usually, 1100 deaths a day. Except, you don't get daily case scores, world doesn't panic about it. And even though it transmits thru air, we don't do lockdowns for it.

Amidst all these, what we see, particularly in India as elsewhere are three India’s ; One ( at home ); doing yoga, watching TV, playing; the other ( trying to reach home ) Fighting for survival , Without food, Without shelter, Without support and the third one, trying to support the second kind ; either by their sweet will; or on the instructions from the first kind.


Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause disease in animals. Seven, including the new virus, have made the jump to humans, but most just cause cold-like symptoms. Covid-19 is closely related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) which swept around the world in 2002 to 2003; but is different given the spectrum of disease is broad, with around 80 per cent of cases leading to a mild infection. There may also be many people carrying the disease and displaying no symptoms, making it even harder to control. The source of the coronavirus is believed to be a "wet market" in Wuhan which sold both dead and live animals including fish and birds.
Such markets pose a heightened risk of viruses jumping from animals to humans because hygiene standards are difficult to maintain if live animals are being kept and butchered on site. Typically, they are also densely packed allowing disease to spread from species to species. The animal source of Covid-19 has not yet been identified, but the original host is thought to be bats. Bats were not sold at the Wuhan market but may have infected live chickens or other animals sold there. Initial symptoms include fever, dry cough, tiredness and a general feeling of being unwell. Other symptoms are emerging such as a lost of taste and smell and stomach problems. There is no specific treatment, although doctors are trialling existing drugs for viruses such as Ebola, malaria and HIV. Early results seem promising but, until full clinical trials have been concluded, doctors cannot be certain that the drugs are effective. Work to develop a vaccine is accelerating but it is unlikely to be available until next year. Like cold and flu bugs, the virus is spread via droplets when a person coughs or sneezes. The droplets land on surfaces and are picked up on the hands of others and spread further. People catch the virus when they touch their infected hands to their mouth, nose or eyes. It follows that the single most important thing you can do to protect yourself is keep your hands clean by washing them frequently with soap and water or a hand sanitising gel.

The first case in India was detected in Thrissur, Kerala on 30th Jan 2020 a student studying in Wuhan. By the first of February, 324 Indians were evacuated in the first flight and another 323 Indians and seven Maldivian citizens were flown back in the second flight. Bringing them back was an uphill task, 10 people were not allowed to come as they had high temperature. The special Air India plane carrying 211 students, 110 working professionals and three minors from Wuhan reached Delhi around 7.30 am on Saturday. The Indian Army had set up a quarantine facility in Manesar near Delhi to keep those evacuated from China's Hubei province. They were monitored for any signs of infection for a duration of two weeks by a qualified team of doctors and staff members.


"Feb 12 : The Corona Virus is an extremely serious threat to our people and our economy. My sense is the government is not taking this threat seriously. Mar 13
I will keep repeating this. The #coronavirus is a huge problem. Ignoring the problem is a non solution. The Indian economy will be destroyed if strong action is not taken. The government is in a stupor." - Rahul Gandhi kept mentioning about this; he did give his contribution to his constituency way back in February itself as well. . Timely action is critical. On April 2nd HM tweeted, Under PM India’s efforts to fight Coronavirus are being lauded domestically and globally. 130 crore Indians are united to defeat COVID-19. Yet, Congress is playing petty politics. High time they think of national interest and stop misleading people.Dear @amitshah ji, to quote @narendramodi, criticism is the essence of democracy. @incIndia has only the national interest in mind —which means the interests of those Indian nationals your Govt overlooked in its #LockdownWithoutPlan &its inadequate financial package. HelpIndians! - Shashi Tharoor tweeted. Why pull in the
@INC when you are talking about your ‘successful’ efforts at managing the pandemic? That actually is petty. It shows the mindset.

I don't care about congress. They are lost case long time ago; unless they do something to revive themselves. My concern is what will you do about the migrant workers within the country and tablighi jamaat? You are our HM. Its your duty to protect us and not keep blaming opposition at this juncture, when you did not mention anything in tweet even after Delhi riot. Is'nt it more important and critical, that out internal migrant issues are taken care of and be the priority?

Janata curfew has been followed on 22nd March. Thali has been bajaoed. On thali to doctors: their life is no different today than it was last year. Corona or not, aren’t these guys always attending to people who need them; othertimes they are lost in oblivion for the rest of their lives, probably until another such crisis occurs. They’re fighting 3 wars (Something you may not have noticed)

1) War with the virus
2) War with the systems and infrastructure which the nation is short of (Fun fact: India has only 2-3 beds per population of 1000, while countries like Italy and China have 12-13 beds for a 1000 people count)
3) War with the people
(Fun fact: Doctors are being stone pelted; slapped; ill-treated; beaten up by the family of their patients. They are being thrown out of their houses by the society or their land lords because they are said to bring in the virus with them. Within ten days, some people went from a clap to a slap.)

https://obvlife.wordpress.com

On 24th March, 21 day shut down was announced at 8pm - when such a major announcement was made to public at large, was the state government's given heads up, to make necessary arrangements? Had PM consulted CM's for lock down to make arrangements? Excellent to hear that PM spoke to all opposition leaders and CMs over weekend of 2nd April and has now planned a video con with political parties on Wed. Well done!Thumbs up. Should have happened much earlier but better late than never.



The rich migrants were brought back to India before Air flights were shut down, while the poor local migrants suffered after the announcement. True, it is painful, and there are people who need to suffer , especially during critical times. And when these people reach Uttar Pradesh, Chemical water is sprayed on them! Is it an human act? How many women with period would have been in that group? Wish such acts are not repeated, and there is a heart to at least segregate them, and do it in private. With migration, began the blame game again. It was said Electricity and water was disconnection based on the districts of the people? Is that really possible? Like how PM can identify people from their dress! - A friend of mine emailed HM "Dear Hon. Home Minister Shri Shah, With a lot of hopes, I am writing to you to draw your attention to time critical national security issues, pertaining to the current situation of COVID-19 in India. Sir, none of the following are unknown to you, however I would like to enumerate a few reasons why Delhi should be subjected to President’s rule and those who are playing with security of our great country and now with health of its citizen. Just any one of these reasons should be sufficient for this action, while you have more than one: 1. The State of Delhi went through horrific riots, which were planned, manufactured, and instigated by Arvind Kejriwal and his core team. 2. The State of Delhi is under panic due to direct efforts of the Govt of Delhi, under the plans of its CM Arvind Kejriwal, which caused a lot of Indians to get into panic mode and began to leave their houses, leave the city of Delhi to go to their villages that they left years ago. Even if we ignore the offense of calling them ‘migrants’ in their own country, the act of perpetuating their panic, and pushing them towards dense states of Utter Pradesh and Haryana, causing them to get infected with the virus due to lack of protection that they had in their four walls, spread of virus to other people, and finally to public transportation, and villages/ cities they may land into, all these are purposefully caused by CM Kejriwal. 3. The State of Delhi has severe health care system problems that are purposely perpetuated by the government led by Arvind Kejriwal. 4. The State of Delhi is under a Chief Minister who has links with foreign organizations and individuals that are working against the interests of our country and our people, such as bodies like ISI, Chinese Communist Party, Ford Foundation, Khalistani independence movement, individuals like George Soros, to name a few. As responsible and caring citizens we are taking utmost care to unite India in our fight against this virus. We are extremely concerned, anxious and disturbed due to Delhi crowding incidents. We have kept huge faith and trust on our PM and HM and following all your guidelines. All eyes are on you to act on this Delhi crowing incident. It is indispensable for you to take very strong action about this and we have not even heard from you. Sir, please, use your power to save my country and its people from these powers. I would strongly urge to impose the Presidents rule, just like during major wars, states and sometimes entire nation needs Presidents rule. This is a war. A war with the virus and perpetrators of this virus and their agents sitting right there in Delhi."

Education has nothing to do with intelligence, wisdom, commonsense, compassion etc.. here is a written proof, we can never convince or win an argument against a fundamentalist in our life time. It's proven. Nobody can make a fundamentalist understand that he is wrong.

As #IndiaFightsCorona, PM is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that every Indian is comforted and benefits from the relief measures announced. Steps taken by the RBI , further reinforce this. But wonder why a new account and plea to join hands in this fight against COVID-19 and contribute to PM-CARES fund launched by PM?. Will this go to NGOs and charitable institutions etc in the name to rebuild country and will be back in the economy .. official money laundering, layering, placement and integration? Classic work it will be. Hope it is not part of Fund raiser to buy more MP's and 2024 elections. It is also now reported that the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund), which is a dedicated national fund with the primary objective of dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic, will have up to 13 eminent experts to undertake relief or assistance of any kind relating to a public health emergency including the creation and up-gradation of healthcare facilities. Most importantly, the eminent experts will be working pro bono. It has been set up as a public charitable trust. The Prime Minister is the chairman of this trust and its members include Defence Minister, Home Minister And Finance Minister. The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund has always had the President of Congress party in its managing committee, is the reason what they say for creating new fund!

NSA Ajit Doval had to visit Nizamuddin at 2 am to convince Markaz head, Maulana Saad, to vacate the building when the latter rejected pleas from Delhi Police and other security agencies. Total of 2,361 people have been brought out from Markaz in Nizamuddin in a joint operation by authorities which lasted 36 hours till 4 am on 1st April. Out of these, 617 have been sent to hospitals while the rest have been sent to different quarantine facilities. An FIR was registered against Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897. Six people from Telangana who attended the gathering have already died due to coronavirus.

Every year there is Basant urs in Nizamuddin dargah then Ajmer, Lot of people go for pilgrimage and they have religious session,speeches and prayers.Some of them r blind followers. Some of them fanatic to extreme. All overthe world come for it.how u have kedarnath and badrinath yatra same way. Now now lockdown was donebefore ajmer urs. First people visit Nizamuddin then Ajmer. That's the rule. But maybe due to lockdown this people got stuck.And stayed in Masjid, thinking nowhere to go it's safe place and got distributed, didn't Modi say " Aap jaha hey Wahi reheye' And see what happened. Actually when Mecca is closed even this urs should have been called off. I feel government should have stopped this and should have educated about the danger. Government and Religious head both r to be blamed, some fanatics who attended, were so frustrated, on detecting virus infected, they were behaving insanely with doctors and nurses. Their photos should have been published, and no treatment given to them. But other patients were shifted to different ward. Gharib Nawaz died in 1236. The death anniversary of a Sufi saint’s death is not mourned, it is celebrated. Urs means “wedding" in Arabic and it symbolizes the union of the lover with the beloved, who is God. “Ajmer is the little Medina," says Sadia Dehlvi, author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam. “Sufism is about making linkages to God through his friends. In Medina, there is the spiritual presence of Prophet Muhammad. In Ajmer, one experiences the same closeness to God, for Khwaja sahib is a direct descendant and lover of the Prophet," says Dehlvi.

A new Muslim villain for every novel occasion, in this case the ‘novel Coronavirus’ occasion, the morons who congregated in Nizamuddin did not disappoint at all. Tabligh won the otherwise multi-religious competition only because they hosted many hundreds of foreigners from Corona-infested countries -- all 'desperately seeking paradise’ within a closed space -- and thus gave the virus a free rein; on a platter one more stick to beat the Muslims with. This could have crept out of the Isha Shivrathri celebration, UP Ramnavami celebration, or the Parliament, which was not adjourned till it was demanded by so many within and outside India. What if this had started spreading during the Trump visit, so many in Gujarat and Agra would have been effected.

The Virus didn't have any religion in China, Italy, Spain, USA.

Then it entered India.
Now it is Religion War 🙏

I think fanatism should be stopped; humanity is first but then there are these fanatic people who brainwash and take advantage. Deceny is lost. Playing religious card has become new norm or fashion. Everytime blame on Moguls or Nehru/Gandhi. It is indeed hurting to see people still spreading hate and terrorism, even during these crucial hours. Sikhs being killed in Afghan - and they say the terrorist was from Kerala, :-( ; In one of the deadliest operations seen along the Line of Control, a hand-to-hand combat and close fire ensued Saturday that left five Special Forces personnel killed in action in Jammu and Kashmir’s Keran sector even as they managed to take out five terrorists who had sneaked in from Pakistan.

We as a country was proud of her unity in diversity absorbed everything beautiful from all religions and made our cultural heritage strong. But platform of democracy and roots shouldn't be ignored. Aurangzeb was brutal and Fanatic mad ruler but he survived for 87 yrs in regime he ruled 3 generation. So it's difficult to ignore his brutality towards Hindus. British ruled India for almost 200 years.

Yes I am against the behaviour during Markaz. But why always take a opportunity and start playing religious card. Sometime I fail to understand, first the migrants, then the religious gatherer and now the supreme court has allowed opening of Kerala Karnataka border for essentials. Don't know why, they should have said essential would be delivered on the border and police or force of each state take it, else it would reach through Railway. Kerala Government was keen in having Karnataka border open for Kasarkode, but considering the rising cases in Coimbatore, wants to keep Palakad border closed.

Some people are quite pissed off with malayalees now. They feel malayalees are using the current crisis to glorify the kerala government. Looks like kerala being in the limelight is upsetting quite a bit of people. So I thought of Sharing (written by someone else - got as a forward in whatsapp) some of the things kerala has been doing to fight Covid-19.

The state was ready with isolation wards from 24th Jan.
Health minister has been updating her official page from 22nd Jan as to what measures the government is taking in response to the threat.
By Jan 30th, kerala had the first positive case. It was a student returning from Wuhan.
Then 2 more students were tested positive.
On Feb 4th Kerala declared state emergency/disaster and by 8th they recalled it cos the situation was under control.
By Feb 14th all of the three cases were declared successfully recovered.
There was no secondary spread and the number of people in quarantine was coming down.
Kerala started screening travellers at the airport. And people were advised what to do if they feel sick.
Every day a detailed list of people in isolation at hospital, at home , people in observation and people cleared was published.
8th March - New corona cases were confirmed.
10th March - Kerala cancelled all public events.
11th March - Kerala shuts schools, colleges,movie halls till 31st.
12th March - Kerala govt launches mobile app for details of Covid -19.
12th March - Kerala decides to deliver mid-day meals to homes so that kids won't suffer.
16th March - Kerala launches "break the chain " campaign. (With the support of the opposition party. )
The government spent so much time educating people the importance of hand wash.
Extra beds and wards were arranged. Made sure ambulances were available.
24th March - Kerala appoints 276 doctors via PSC. They were already in the rank list.
24th March - Kerala goes into lockdown till 31st.
Essential services are still open. And they made it clear what is available and what isn't.
Kerala deployed special squads to ensure food safety.
They provided staples to transgenders.
Started community kitchens so that people don't go hungry.
Guests laborers from other states were taken care of.
CM spoke against the stigma in corona patients.
CM asked to treat our foreign guests with respect.
CM came on tv and asked if possible, feed the stray animals.
THE GRANULARITY AMAZES ME.

Why so many cases in kerala?
Because of extensive testing. And kerala has done absolutely brilliant work in contact tracing. The experience Nipah has given kerala proved to be very useful in this scenario.
An example below.

Why kerala is different?
Kerala had a plan A and B in place from Jan 30. Kerala had to make a plan C on March 8th following the second set of positive cases from Pathanamthitta.

First it was the health minister doing regular press conference to make sure people know the progress, then the CM also joined the daily press meets and yes he took questions. Every concern was taken care of or addressed properly. His press meets are so reassuring. It shows they know what they are doing. It shows confidence.

Don't get me wrong. I know many states are doing great things for their people.This post is not to belittle anyone's effort. It is to educate that Kerala is a step above; but not best; as even Kerala could have prevented it. Delhi's 5 Ts to fight COVID-19:

Testing
Tracing
Treatment
Teamwork
Tracking & Monitoring

At supermarkets like everywhere else, we can see, moving out non essential, standing in rectangle boxes outside, entering only 5-6 at a time, wiping freezer handles, these are followed here as well. May be best practice from costco. But only for a temporary while since last week. It's tough to follow them in crowded places, when people are in a hurry.

Well but this is not the end. Once the airports are open, we would have tons of people flying in from overseas. Though they may be asked to be quarantined, there would be some, who would escape the police and customs, to create further spread and nuisance to people around. For now, special prayers to people across the world, especially New York, Mumbai, Italy, Spain. My heartfelt Thanks to all the frontline workers, struggling to bring life to normal, at this juncture.

Politics is dirty play. Even during this period of struggle, politicians are doing back door work in progress😀Politics, Politicians and Political morons continue with their blame game, even during sensetive times, crossing borders when borders are closed, creating divides when the spread is without any divide, playing blame game when unity and appreciation is the need of the hour each blind to their selfish so called ideologies. God Bless this world. Stay Safe dears. Share goods and things with those who need around you but keep the distance. Love and Prayers. Wishing all a safe passage of this time. Would want to talk to all, but don't think it is possible. But each one of you are in my prayers. Thanks to Corona Virus, some people have understood, there is no need to Hurry and Hate; in fact there is time only for Love and positivity. A little bit of carelessness is enough to bring back and get the numbers to multiply in geometric progression. Hope the government realise the priorities at least now!

Lockdown has been done. Lights have been turned off. Diya has been lit.



There are these kinds of forwards floating around and discussions on them as well, liked my schoolies comment "While this is true, but who gets to decide who is stupid. As per each their perspective is wisdom and the others are stupid. How would it be if we say “ we are fighting Covid-19 and ego filled perspectives”.

Once India wins the battle against COVID-19, there will be a bigger war waiting — fixing the large-scale disruption caused by the unprecedented shutdown, the former RBI Governor said. He says the government should have a plan for what happens next after the lockdown, even if the virus is not defeated by then. There is no way a billion-plus population can be locked down for a longer period of time. Lifting the lock down, by itself is going to be a challenging task, it has to be meticulously planned, or people would jump into a party mode, hugging each other, and dancing around.

Virus hunters | A race against time to stop the next pandemic, is around; but can anyone stop what ought to happen? If yes, request they stop the other kind of viruses as well. What will be, will be! Alas! Virus is too secular, and here to teach a lesson on secularism.