Srinagar (SOFI JAHANGIR):- Seated on a ticking time bomb of Covid-19, Kashmir valley paints an ugly picture of worst to come yet, through the insensitivity of people at large, towards adopting precautionary measures and sticking to SOPs to avoid the spread of the deadly disease.
Everywhere, from markets to mosques, shops to offices, roads to highways, private to public transport, deaths to marriages, the picture is very grim with neither the society nor the authorities seeming to be concerned about the situation, the valley is in today because of this insensitivity.
The vigil, the efforts, and the response, from various stakeholders, which was evident only two or three months ago, when the number of positive cases and deaths related to COVID, were quite low as compared to what we are witnessing today; however the society, as well as the authorities, have loosened the guard to an extent, where rising numbers of positive cases and equally, the rise in the numbers of deaths have been normalized, without learning a lesson from the experiences.
Looking at the situation around the world due to COVID-19 valley people, as well as the authorities, were terrified and no effort was left undone to stop the virus. An unprecedented set of preventive measures were put in place by the authorities and round the clock, a vigil was introduced to deal with the positive cases and their deaths.
The lockdown was implemented strictly and SOPs were put in place to stop the spread of disease any further. Red zones were declared and the population within these red zones were made to confine themselves within these zones, after shifting the positive patients from here to the designated isolation and quarantine centers. Elsewhere curfew-like restrictions were imposed and people were forced to remain confined within their homes and to follow social distancing and other SOPs. Even fines were imposed on the people who were found ignoring the directives issued by the govt. to fight this deadly virus.
These measures which were implemented ruthlessly, with an unimaginable cost incurred on them, now seems to be history, when in comparison the rise in the numbers of positive cases and deaths has increased to an alarming level.
While in the beginning, these numbers were in single digit, which gradually rose to double digits have now crossed three-digit numbers, but what we see on the ground is that people seem to have forgotten the threat posed by the deadly disease, that has consumed hundreds of thousands of lives world over and more than seventy thousand in India. The situation in the valley is also no different.
Every day more than a thousand suspected COVID-19 patients return positive for the pathogen, while a good number of patients lose their lives on a daily basis.
With India going towards the unlocking phase, more than 4 million Covid-19 positive cases have been reported and stand at number two in the list of most Covid-19 positive cases. Recent figures show more than 90000 cases are being reported in every 24 hours.
The recent decision of opening the schools has drawn a lot of criticism from parents and medical experts. And on the ground, it seems there is very little synergy between the administration and medical experts while framing the unlocking strategy.
As per the data available a total of 49,134 patients have been tested positive 34,215 have recovered while 845 patients succumbed to the disease so far in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Looking at these figures, logically people, as well as the authorities, should have been more concerned and the measures on the ground should have been intensified, but what we see is the insensitivity of people towards the precautionary measures.
A good number of people can be seen without masks and social distancing is rarely visible anywhere. People throng markets in herds and crowds have taken back to the streets. Public transport operates normally on all valley routes, with SOPs hardly followed.
Big buses, medium and small public transport vehicles are openly indulging into overloading, under the very nose of traffic authorities. The same is the case with other social gatherings, where people give two hoots to wearing masks and observe social distancing.
Prayers are being offered normally in the mosques without any social distancing and use of masks, while on marriages and other social events, like condolence meetings the picture is no different.
Authorities also seem to have accepted the outburst of the disease as normal and the enthusiasm seen earlier seems to have died down.
Everyone is looking the other way. Only one thing, which is looking straight, with increased pace is the infection, which if not taken seriously, will end up as a disaster, a kind of which has not been so far found in our past history.