The Pandemic and We

According to worldometer.info/coronavirus, the cumulative figures for the COVID-19 pandemic for the US, the UK, and India yesterday (04 May 2019) were:

USA – 1,212,835 cases; 69,921 deaths

UK – 190,584 cases; 28,734 deaths

India – 46,476 cases; 1,571 deaths

Compared to the US and the UK, the governments of which botched up their initial response to the pandemic and allowed the disease to spread freely, India has fared way better, particularly if you consider that we have a much larger population and much poorer healthcare facilities. However, before we hurt ourselves patting our own backs, let’s also contrast ourselves with two comparable countries in terms of geography, population density, and infrastructure.

Pakistan – 20,941 cases; 476 deaths

Bangladesh – 10,143 cases; 182 deaths

And let’s not even try to compare ourselves with those that have managed the pandemic effectively. Vietnam which has a population of 95 million (9.5 crores) has reported 271 cases and ZERO deaths. Wow! (New Zealand has been much touted by the media, but it has a population under five million (50 lakhs) hardly comparable to India)

I wouldn’t hazard a guess why the figures are far lower in resource-starved South Asia compared to many European countries and the US. However, as far as our country is concerned, let’s not jump to congratulate the government in New Delhi because we haven’t seen any transparent message from them on what percentage of population we’re testing to identify the cases early, how many new hospital beds we have created, how many PPE kits have been given to our doctors and other health workers, or even how many additional ventilators have been procured. Leaders of civilised countries reel out these figures, while our leaders are silent on them but prefer to shower us with rose petals from helicopters.

This government loves self-publicity and the absence of full-page adverts in newspapers tells us they have very little to say.

Also, healthcare is a state subject and we have seen responses from state governments that range from brilliant to abysmal. Clearly, Kerala has done brilliantly, but there have been miracles elsewhere too, like in Chhattisgarh (58 cases, no death), Asom (43 cases, 1 death), and Odisha (170 cases, 1 death).

At the other end of the spectrum is West Bengal, which seems to be spending more energy and time fudging coronavirus-related statistics than fighting the pandemic. Everyone I speak with in Kolkata seems mortified. They know if they contract the disease, they will have to deal with an insane healthcare bureaucracy and will have little chance.

But as Indians, let’s hope the pandemic won’t become a mass-killer like it has been in the US, UK, Spain, Italy, and France.

Experience has taught us to be less fanciful with hopes.

05 May 2020