Dreading to wake up extremely early in the morning to proceed carrying out the daily algorithm of leaving the comfort of our houses to travel all the way up to a place where we were to spend the half of our day, spending hours with our friends playing football or cricket or going for a swim and being forcefully dragged to attend every marriage that there was to exist within our families, we all had these events marked as something insignificant due to the excessive and easy occurrence of them in our lives. Never had we, even in our wildest dreams, thought that one day these would be the very events we would miss and wait impatiently for.
With the end of year examinations being around the corner and all of the usual worldly activities being at their peak, a global pandemic that would strip us all of any sort of social interaction and would cause serious harms to the system we were all so accustomed to, was definitely not on anyone’s list and nor did anyone ever see it coming. We were all so absorbed in our set routine, busy criticizing what we had that we completely outnumbered the possibility of it all being taken away from us.
With the increase from just a handful of initial cases to the rapid spread across the globe, the symptoms of this terrifying virus were made public for everyone to know and keep a lookout for. Having a fever, dry cough or feeling tired are marked as the most common of all the symptoms and are definitely difficult to tell apart from diseases involving the same indications whereas experiencing body aches and pains, a sore throat, diarrhea, conjunctivitis, headaches, a rash or discoloration of the skin around finger and toes and the loss of taste are some of the least common symptoms. Being unable to breathe properly, encountering loss of movement and chest pains are included in the more serious and dangerous indications of this virus.
With the 10 month long terror region of the deadly coronavirus, to say that the general system we had all been accustomed to has taken a sharp 180 degree turn, will not in any way be wrong and in fact, to state that this extremely unpredictably fearful time period has brought by some long lasting impacts, will be true. From school and jobs being made online, circulating around our computers and mobiles, to being completely cut off from the entire world, social distancing in our houses, the world we knew has been altered of its old traditional ways to this ‘new normal’, with a new set pattern to which we are all to adhere to.
The existence of this virus was initially reported in China, linked to a wholesale food market in Wuhan which was followed by a gruesome and lengthy timeline of events generated due to the spread of this virus. Reminding us all of the spine-chilling narrative laid down by the famous novel and movie ‘the maze runner’, this virus began its tour around the world on the 31 st of December when 41 patients were reported to be having mysterious cases of pneumonia in China.
This was all followed by huge consequences on the entire planet economically, physically and mentally as the virus marked its territories passing through Thailand on the 13 th of January to USA on the 20 th of the same month and Iran on February 19 th to Brazil on April 24 th and as of today, this virus has the entire earth in its wrap with approximately 1.12 million people dead and 40.2 million existing cases. A few strict SOPs including the wearing of a mask made mandatory, the practice of social distancing encouraged and the use of sanitizers and cleansing of every surface made necessary, were introduced and made an obligation to be followed by everyone along with the carrying out of tests to indicate the presence of the virus in an individual.
A vaccine for this deadly virus, however, has been the only ray of hope leading people to hold on to themselves and their loved ones as it is seen as the only way back to the world we were all initially born in. With more than 140 organizations around the globe having their scientists work on a possible prevention of the further strengthening of this virus, as of yet, the efforts have all been unsuccessful as the virus, every other time, takes on a different structure and composition , making it extremely difficult for the researchers to formulate a fixed formula. The questions which intrigue us all more is as to who will get the vaccine first, when it has finally been made. Will it just be the developed and powerful countries such as China, USA and Russia?
Let’s keep in mind that the developing countries have a diminishing capacity to buy new vaccines because the proportion of their exports that is needed to service their overseas debt rose from 11% in 1970 to 18% in 1996 while industrial countries have become less willing to help. Will the vaccine ever be available to the third world countries as easily as it will be to the developed ones?
Will the vaccine be priced extremely high and will this provide another reason for a possible cold war or a physical struggle? With the fate of the world being extremely unpredictable and the entire little of what hope we all have, resting on the development of a vaccine, it is hard to tell as to how the world will progress. Hence, to ensure the security and safety of yourself and your loved ones, it is compulsory to abide by every set rule as the virus may have been slowed down but it is still there and humanity is still vulnerable to its existence.
The writer is currently studying in A levels at Aitchison College, Lahore