COVID-19: Glimmer Of Hope In Dark Times (Part-1)
It is said that a person in pitch darkness should still be optimistic and must pursue the light. It keeps us motivated to strive towards happier times. To battle, the gloom we need is a ray of hope, like sunshine on freezing wintry days or rainbow, on a rainy day.
In the present scenario, which is unprecedented, people are bombarded with many kinds of pessimistic reports regarding the impact of COVID-19 on everyone's life.
By now, we are all familiar with the origin of the pandemic in the Chinese province of Wuhan and its spread to the remotest part of our world. The COVID-19 epidemic, which appeared out of nowhere, has become a great obstructor in our daily lives.
How Coronavirus Changed the World?
As the countries struggle to find a cure for the epidemic, mother nature has already rebooted itself and is healing the scars inflicted because of the polluted environment. While complete recovery requires time and patience, yet some significant issues contributing to pollution like Global warming because of greenhouse gas emissions is actively being addressed.
1- Greenhouse
There are many aspects of nature promising in these difficult times, imploring us to remain positive. Some positive indicators, such as a miraculous decrease in greenhouse gas emissions across the globe, are not only impressive but much required to address the global warming crisis.
To combat the COVID -19 pandemic, policymakers across the globe were compelled to limit people's movement and take drastic measures such as lockdowns or curfews.
Due to lockdown
Governments across the world are prompted to enforce lockdowns in their respective countries brought the entire vehicular movement and air traffic to a complete halt. As factories, transportation, businesses have stopped, and people are confined to houses, working remotely, the end product of these efforts is a safe, noiseless, and calm environment, the type that we all longed for but were unsuccessful.
Despite constant appeals by environmentalists and NGO's, nothing much was achieved on a global front to cut carbon emissions, the lockdown, however, may prove to be a hidden blessing in disguise. If civilians across the world, who have now witnessed the risks of a toxic atmosphere, can prepare their respective governments, to frame and implement environmental conservation policies after the lockdown, this period could prove to be a game-changing moment in the history of humanity.
According to studies, there is a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions in China; likewise, satellite imaging around Europe has shown a significant reduction of toxic emissions of Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), back home, data collected by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), part of India's Environment Ministry is pleasing.
However, the clean environment can only be sustained if two significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions, namely fossil fuel-based power plants and transportation networks, are checked. This is possible only by investing in renewable energy resources.
Investments
The COVID-19 pandemic could stimulate the world's investments in cleaner technologies.
More investments can spur research in Solar, wind, and other renewable resources that harnesses nature to produce electricity. It can also prove to be a boon in the transportation sector to upgrade, resulting in an entire generation of electric or hybrid vehicles for public or private transportation.
Since transportation accounts for 23 percent of global carbon emissions, the coronavirus pandemic may be the tipping point toward discarding the existing fossil-fuel-based transportation system. This would promote private and public investments to create a safe and sustainable potential transport network.
Such an endeavor is urgently required for countries like India, where vehicular pollution has become a significant health hazard in urban areas.
Lockdown In India
The lockdown scenario has already shown a dramatic reduction of pollutants across different cities and towns in India, which has the notorious distinction of having 21 of the world's 30 most polluted cities.
The coronavirus pandemic has given countries such as India, an unprecedented chance to invest in clean energy or efficient green public and private transportation that will have long-term benefits.
After the environment, another social sector that needs more attention during and after the COVID-19 pandemic is healthcare.
2 - Healthcare
Throughout the case of the COVID-19 outbreak, the healthcare system, which is the proverbial shield against any disease outbreak, has been found wanting. This time, not just the developing nations, even the developed world, has been brought to its knees. There are desperate attempts made by the European Union and the USA government to import vital medical equipment and supplies.
Jostling for Medical equipment
Not just qualified doctors and paramedics even the shortfall of medicines, masks, protective gear, ventilators, the scramble to gain such primary products is perpetual, and the condition is scary.
The desperation of the US administration became apparent when it urged the Indian government to lift the ban on hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol medicine immediately. After that, with adequate supply available for internal use, GOI has partially relaxed the export of drugs on humanitarian grounds.
It no denies the fact that the healthcare system across the nations is under-prepared primarily to cope with any significant health crisis that involves large volumes of people who would seek medical care because of the pandemic.
Rethinking
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted people to think, we not only need more hospitals equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and qualified doctors and nursing staff but also resources for research to develop a new generation of disease-fighting drugs.
It is interesting to note that even when an alarming amount of resurgent and 'modern' infectious diseases are growing internationally, investments in the discovery and introduction of new antimicrobial agents by the world's major pharmaceutical companies are diminishing.
One major factor being huge investments required to develop a newer range of antibiotics and the time required.
Today, our total allocation of healthcare resources is just 1% of our GDP compared to 10% in the developed world and 18% in the USA. Similarly, resource allocation for research and development in India is .7% of GDP, while on defense, it stands at 2.4% of GDP. The rising death toll and the havoc caused because of COVID-19 pandemic may force the respective governments to change their spending pattern.
Radical changes possible
As the pandemic eventually subsides, there is expected to be a significant overhaul in the way resource allocation is carried out globally, including India. The social sector, like healthcare, needs substantial investment to ward off crises like today.
The fact that the collective consciousness of the society has been jolted and may radically alter the preferences.
Today as the threat of COVID-19 pandemic is looming over us, it has prompted institutions to forge a coalition to innovative and produce medical equipment on a war footing.
One such initiative that deserves to be emulated is the coming together of different organizations in India.
India setting example
Few would have envisaged a scenario where a multi patient-ventilator designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) would be manufactured by automakers like Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), Hyundai Motor India, Honda Cars India, and Maruti Suzuki India. This will not only help in overcoming the shortage of critical equipment like a ventilator, which is necessary to fight coronavirus, but is also a low cost and can be exported to developing countries.
It is promising to see the collaboration between Indian government laboratories and the private sector who have risen to the occasion to meet the virus's challenge.
Future expectation
The future looks promising as the Indian scientists, engineers, and technicians have shown the mettle to provide solutions overnight. They have worked overtime to tackle hurdles while industries have contributed by mass-producing critical items at low-cost.
The time has come for us to improve our hospital's capacity to plan for and respond to the threat of bioterrorism and natural epidemics and disasters. Countries must focus on developing protective equipment, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals instead of taking vital money aside for disruptive purposes.
Apart from healthcare, the education sector will also be in focus. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the education sector was negatively impacted because of lockdown.
Image Courtesy -Unsplash
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