How the ruling elite is responsible for the spread of pandemic
Two years after the coronavirus first emerged on this planet, one thing can be said with certainty: the hypocrisy of the ruling elite and the creamy layer of the society is primarily responsible for the spread of this pandemic. Nothing can be more shameful than a series of drink parties held in the official residence of the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Not only that, two dozen people lost their lives in Murree Hills in Pakistan due to heavy snowfall even though the world is yet to recover from the pandemic. Similarly, thousands converged to the hill stations in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on the two days when people of Delhi were put under curfew on January 7 and 8. The authorities and media turned a blind eye to this glaring omission of corona norms obviously because it would affect the rich and powerful involved in tourism business.
As “War is too important to be left to Generals”, about 800 days after COVID-19 was first detected one can say that pandemic is too serious a matter to be left only in the hands of doctors and other health experts. The time has come to pay attention to common mistakes which are being committed by the victims of virus and their family members.
Ironically, the top health experts across the world are in general not pointing towards these facts though at the local level many doctors are questioning the way the whole issue has been hijacked by the big corporate houses.
First, the British media reported last month as to how the Christmas party was held on December 18, 2020 at 10 Downing Street, the official residence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, when hundreds of people were dying and thousands getting affected everyday in England. On that very day 514 people perished in this small country. The party continued till midnight, though only a couple of days before Johnson himself appealed to the Britons to cancel all such get-togethers.
Curiously, it took one full year for the British newspapers to uncover this happening which occurred on the eve of X-mas of 2020. Though there is no Press censorship in the United Kingdom yet the people came to know about this gross violation of rules by the powers that be a year later. Now on January 12, 2022 Boris Johnson apologised for the drink party held in the same official residence on the evening of May 20, 2020. Once again this fact could be known only on January 10.
England is not the only country where the corona-related restrictions are limited to the common people. Why just blame politicians? Those who form the ruling elite of the society are too responsible for the double-speak on corona protocols. They include big businessmen, journalists, doctors, bureaucrats, technocrats, academics, sportspersons, other professionals, etc.
For example, everyone in the World Health Organisation, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and all the experts are well aware that maintaining ‘social distancing’ is simply not possible anywhere on earth. It can be possible only when the world is brought to the standstill. No plane, no train, no ship, no factory, no farming, no dairy related work, no hospital as well as no other means of production is possible if one follows the criteria of six feet for the so-called social distancing. In a matter of few days the whole global population would face the starvation death. So why this stupidity is being propagated day in and day out.
Recently, this correspondent was socially persuaded to attend two marriage ceremonies, though he normally avoids any such gathering. The first one was on October 30 and the second was on December 10, that is after the advent of Omicron in the world.
In the first one there were quite a few doctors among the guests (as well as the baraatis) while in the second one the host himself was a doctor, who otherwise would advise the use of mask. In these two functions, held in packed air-conditioned hotels with no scope of ventilation, cold drinks and ice-cream were served.
It was this correspondent who kept warning the people not to take cold drinks and ice-creams and asked why are the hotel using AC when the weather is already cold and that too when the pandemic has not yet gone.
Not to speak of doctors, a generation back even average parents would reprimand their children not to take cold drinks and ice-creams during winter. Today after Covid-19 has taken millions of lives across the globe, doctors themselves are unmindful of eating and drinking them. But meet them in clinic or hospital the same doctor would advise the patient to take warm water.
Why is it that the doctor fraternity not coming out openly against the use of AC, cold drinks, ice-cream, as well as flocking of tourists in hill stations in such freezing temperature? Are they so much influenced by the propaganda and advertisement machinery of big business houses?
The tragedy is that the doctors are themselves treating people in poorly ventilated centrally air-conditioned hospitals, which look more like five-star hotels. Till three-four decades back hospital wards and doctors’ clinics used to be well ventilated, even though the medical science was not so advanced then as now. Today instead of windows and exhaust fans, they prefer AC everywhere and thus become exposed to virus. This may be a reason why more doctors are falling to pandemic than the scavengers and lower level sanitation-workers in hospitals.
One fails to understand the wisdom behind carrying corona patients in air-conditioned ambulance with attendant(s) sitting beside. That was the one reason why so many people from one family had either suffered from the virus or had even died.
Hardly any health experts who matter questioned the manner in which the whole vaccine campaign was undertaken. To make record people were asked to throng in a large number at the vaccine centres and hospitals. So many of them actually got afflicted by the virus before taking vaccine. What about social distancing guideline being parroted by many of our anchors and health experts.
Unlike the countries having extremely cold condition where one cannot live without centralised heat-system, in India and other places one can survive without centralised AC, at least till the pandemic is wreaking havoc.
But since no one can dare to speak out against the big multi-national companies and hospitality industry, the best thing is to impose fine on the poor masses and use police lathis on them.
Keep them in tight leash so that they cannot ask as to why is it that this virus is affecting the politicians, bureaucrats, doctors, and well-off persons more than have-nots, who otherwise lead a very hard life.