Daily Times

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, nobody knew how lethal it would be; even as multiple strains were gradually detected across the globe.

The original Wuhan virus was superseded by these newer strains that kept evolving. There was talk of herd immunity in Sweden and certain South Asian countries — yet none of these assumptions was backed by scientific data and research since the lethality of the virus was misunderstood initially.

It’s proven that smart lockdowns remained effective in many countries, including Pakistan, during the initial wave. Yet the economic fallout deteriorated sharply as new strains emerged in the latter half of 2020, particularly in Britain and South Africa.

Apart from this, there was a complete lapse in terms of following SOPs, with social media becoming a conduit for all kinds of conspiracy theories which can easily be debunked. Sadly, the number of people who believe them or refused to follow SOPs share a common denominator: belonging to the anti-vaxxer club. Despite living in a globalised world, it has increasingly become difficult to counter their arguments with facts and data since such people have preconceived ideas that do not conform to medical science. Legitimate concerns, while rare, may exist only in the cases of allergies while the key point remains: the deliberate refusal to protect oneself leads to chaos and destruction. In Pakistan, there were instances where celebrities were preaching SOPs and unleashed juvenile trolls upon their adversaries through platforms such as Twitter while posting pictures and clips of their private parties and weddings on Instagram without any iota of shame. Hypocrisy much?

The UN must ensure equity in vaccine distribution since hoarding and vaccine politics are causing more harm than good. The resurgence in soft power diplomacy in context of the pandemic is also dividing the world into different camps

Stricter laws for following SOPs have been profoundly effective in countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, and the same is required in global hotspots that aren’t confined to a single region. Notably, some of these countries were first to restrict or ban flight operations and continue to do so. Though a controversial policy given its economic and personal perils, it did help in reducing COVID-19’s transmission.

Some of the initial global hotspots in China, Europe and the Eastern Seaboard of United States have now been replaced by those in South Asia, specifically India where the BJP government is directly responsible for escalating the situation since the first wave emerged in March 2020. It even puts the Trump administration to shame. With India’s ministers and local leadership shying away from any responsibility and instead coercing social media companies and international media to play down the dire situation which has resulted in over 200,000 deaths and around 350,000 daily cases, there is a sense of mass fear and insecurity. Reportedly, cases are being registered against those who highlight lack of essential medical supplies and Indian diplomats across the world such as those in Australia have been instructed to counter the negative media coverage that has questioned the lack of tangible and cohesive leadership by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

These events surely have ramifications for New Delhi’s carefully crafted soft power, consolidated over recent decades. The onus solely lies with a leadership that is bent upon crushing the country’s integrity, whether due to inaction on COVID-19, the Indian farmers’ protests or confining over eight million Kashmiris to their own homeland.

Eminent Indian writer Arundathi Roy wrote a scathing piece in The Guardian earlier this week, in which she shreds to pieces Modi’s divisive policies that are akin to genocidal tactics.

The emergence of two Indian strains of the virus is another story. One of them represented a double mutation while the other a triple mutation. This means that two or more strains evolved to form a single one. This is beyond worrisome and public health experts have expressed their reservations. In the past week alone, 38 percent of global COVID-19 cases were reported from India and, globally, there has been a debate on whether the number of deaths and cases being officially tallied are accurate or not given how the BJP regime is trying to cover up its mess through a fascist approach.

Coming back to the overall situation across the world, vaccination is in full-swing in the developed world yet the developing world is still reeling from lack of mass availability. Other factors such as reluctance to be immunised on the part of sections of the public is also causing trouble.

The United Nations must ensure equity in distribution of the vaccines since hoarding and vaccine politics are causing more harm than good. The resurgence in soft power diplomacy in context of the pandemic is also dividing the world into different camps. Ideally, this must be prevented for the sake of humanity — but who will listen? No one as a matter of fact. With mental health issues and economic crises on the rise exponentially, the world must come together under a single umbrella instead of playing petty politics for short-term interests.

The writer is Associate Editor (Diplomatic Affairs), Daily Times. He tweets @mhassankhan06