Utkarsh Upadhyay
India a country with a population of more then a billion is brought to a halt because of a virus that has taken the country by it arm and has made it sit still for 21 days. But the question that rises here is that how prepared is india for these 21 and beyond that if the case rises.
Seeing the current situation and status of the country, it seems to be falling behind in the testing race as compared to other countries. India is the world’s second-most populous country and has the fifth-biggest economy, with trade connections all over the world. Yet despite its size, the country of 1.34 billion appears to have avoided the full hit of the pandemic. To date, India has only 697 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 13 deaths. By contrast, South Korea — which has a population only 3.8% the size of India’s — has more than 9,000 cases.
China, where the outbreak was first identified, has more than 81,000 confirmed cases in a population of 1.39 billion.The SARC COV-2 infection has reached many places in India. India has conducted nearly 15,000 Covid-19 tests so far , as per WHO which says that India is the only country which is responding with urgency as well as transparency. The Indian government has recommended residents should avoid or postponed mass gatherings until the spread of Covid-19 is contained. Many big events like Indian Premier League has been postponed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the decision of locking down India which shows his concern for the nation. His timely decisions can prevent India to face mass destruction. The common people are supposed to be at their place and not to come out of their house unless it is very urgent. The people who are providing with basic services will continue their work. Central Government as well as the State Government is very actively responding to theproblems faced by the local people. For their comfort government has taken big steps as well. The basic essentials would be provided to the people at reasonable prices at their doorsteps, wages would be provided to daily wage labourers, food services are being provided to the labourers.
Production, supply of essentials goods won’t get affected during lockdown:- Centre The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the government is taking steps to ensure that production, supply or distribution of essential goods and services do not get affected during the 21-day complete lockdown over coronavirus. “States are working to provide food and shelter to migrant workers,” said Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, MHA.
Odisha to set up ‘largest’ COVID-19 hospital:-Odisha is to set up the “largest” COVID-19 hospital in the country. “Will be a 1,000 bed hospital and will be functional in a fortnight. Odisha will be the first state in the country to set up such a large scale hospital exclusively to treat COVID-19 patients,” A tripartite agreement was signed between the Odisha government, corporates, and medical colleges to set up a 1,000-bed exclusive COVID-19 treatment hospital.
Centre announces Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan Scheme:-The Centre on Thursday announced the ‘Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan Scheme’ for Rs 1.7 lakh crore. “This scheme includes food security and cash transfers,” said Nirmala Sitharaman.
Exgratia amount of Rs 500/- month for women Jan Dhan account holders. Women Jan Dhan account holders to get Rs 500 per month for the next three months.Not only government but people are also actively supporting the lockdown. This shows that the people are concerned about their health, whereas in some places where people didn’t obeyed the lockdown and the norms , strict actions were taken by the police force. Overall it can be said that India is well prepared to give a tough fight to the coronavirus and hope will win this battle.
