India is currently caught in the eye of the coronavirus storm. The country ranks third behind the U.S. and Brazil in terms of the total coronavirus confirmed cases. Experts claim that the coronavirus cases in India are growing at a 20% growth rate which is higher than both the U.S. and Brazil. And all of this is despite the fact that India tests only 324 individuals out of every 10 lakhs.
By the looks of it, experts claim that India will soon become the hardest-hit country in the world by the coronavirus pandemic. India is in dire straits not just because of its population, but also because of the size and diversity of the country. Smaller countries such as New Zealand, Iceland, Thailand, etc. can control the pandemic by closing their international borders.
The Reason Why Smaller Countries Could Successfully Put a Halt to the Coronavirus:
But even if India closes its international borders, the real culprits are its porous internal borders. To put a halt to the coronavirus pandemic, Europe decided to suspend the Schengen agreement and the freedom of movement of nearly 450 million people. So, even if India manages to flatten the coronavirus curve in one or two states, chances are that other states will be the ones suffering.
Moreover, we have to try to understand that large nations such as India, the U.S., China, etc. do well because of their independent fluid economy. Therefore, such countries face extreme pressure to reopen the markets and revive the economy. So, India cannot wait for long to open its supply chains. Even though India decided upon an early lockdown taking the risk to compromise the economic well-being of the country; the coronavirus is spreading now more than ever. This is because as the lockdown got lifted slowly and steadily, the movement of people across internal borders in search of livelihood began.
In fact, every Indian state faces a shortage of managerial resources, talent, capacity, and resources. Therefore, we can’t expect the government to track down every movement across the internal borders. Early on in the coronavirus pandemic, the world was praising Kerala for its rigorous contact tracing techniques. But this practice led to a decline in the number of tests being done. Today we’re in a situation wherein leaders of the country are forced to accept the reality of community transmission in India.
Furthermore, while the neighboring countries of India are showing signs of a flattening coronavirus curve, the Indian graph is on the rise. As of today, the total cases in India are doubling every 20 days which is worrisome. However, even though these statistics sound discouraging, we have to take into account the measures taken by the government to boost the healthcare system of the country.
Also, governments across the globe have to try and treat NGOs and biotech companies respectfully if they want to turn the tide of the dreadful pandemic. If not, then woe betide us because things in the world are for sure headed in the wrong direction.
