Blog: COVID is not over!

COVID – an acronym for Corona Virus disease – is a pandemic started in December 2019. Although its birthplace was China but it was not long before it got control of large portions of the planet Earth.

The transfer was rapid, symptoms were apparent and panic was real with no cure in sight. Prior researches had shown the existence of a virus named SARS-CoV-2 but what havoc it would bring on mankind was yet to be discovered in the aftermath of December 2019.

In the North, there are signs of economic recovery as vaccination rates increase, but in developing world this crisis is just starting and the world needs to respond with more urgency.”

 

Starting from mild symptoms like fever, cough, tiredness, and loss of taste or smell, a patient may suffer from moderate symptoms which include aches and pains, diarrhea and a rash on skin, or discoloration of fingers or toes to severe symptoms like difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, loss of speech or mobility, or confusion, and chest pain.

Immediate medical attention must be sought for serious signs of the disease. Like any other virus, SARS-CoV-2 also spreads from an infected person’s nose or mouth in the form of small liquid particles when they sneeze, cough, breathe, speak or sing.

For countries like Pakistan, hence, it is decisive to craft a bridge between the short-term and medium-term challenges if they need to recover completely from the reverberations of this pandemic.

Almost 5-6 days, on average, are taken by the symptoms to show. In some cases, it can also take up to 14 days.

Pandemics are not new to mankind. They are as ancient as the history of human beings. Pandemics have a compelling impact on social and political fabric of any society. They are the cause of population displacement, enhanced social discrimination and tensions and economic upheaval. Corona pandemic was no different.

However, the transport and communication systems of today’s modern world resulted in its manifold effects. Corona virus tempted loss of jobs, economic downfall, increased inflation and disrupted education structure at an unprecedented scale.

COVID is not a common flu or a disease that can be handled via single medical invention. Once the disease takes control of a person, it may lead to the development of vascular, nervous, endocrine and immune complications, which can lead to organ failure in extreme cases.

Moreover, the psychological impact of this disease is both undeniable and overwhelming. The financial hardship, grief over the death of loved ones, changes in our daily lives, enormity of living in isolation and job loss has the impending effect on the mental health and well-being of many.

Although developed countries suffered from heavy death toll as a result of Corona virus but it was third world states that actually bore the brunt. With fragile infrastructure and economy in shambles, developing states suffered greatly in all aspects of life.

Talking about Corona, Jayati Ghosh – Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst stressed that “for most of the world, this is not over. This catastrophe is continuing.

In the North, there are signs of economic recovery as vaccination rates increase, but in developing world this crisis is just starting and the world needs to respond with more urgency.”

Pakistan is the prime example in this case. Even if the state set up emergency social transfers in effort to allay the off-putting welfare impact of the pandemic, they have been proven to be insufficient to counteract the pandemic’s impact.

According to a study, lower middle-income countries exhausted an average of $26 per head on COVID-19-related social security, whereas an average of $6 per person was spent by low-income countries. As a consequence, an average of two-third households lost jobs due to income losses.

Yet the pandemic has affected communities unequally within countries. Vulnerable groups like women, less-educated workers and young who were already at a disadvantageous position in the labor market before this havoc are more prone to lose their jobs in the instant outcome of the pandemic.

Afar from the jagged trouble of death and hospitalization, women-related jobs have been strained excessively, whilst children from underprivileged groups have come across greater obstacles in accessing education.  It would be unwise to say that Corona pandemic is over until these problems are not addressed.

For countries like Pakistan, hence, it is decisive to craft a bridge between the short-term and medium-term challenges if they need to recover completely from the reverberations of this pandemic.

So far, it has been observed that rescue packages have remained unsuccessful in reducing disparities. Concrete steps must be taken to make investments in people a priority and to associate societal inclusion with growth policies.