COVID pandemic: A turbulent cove on a straight coastline

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World before COVID: A straight coastline

Beginning of 2019 was quite oblivious to the coming times. We had extended pains of terrorism, Syrian civil war, human displacements, Donald Trump, Brexit, environmental pollution, and anti-establishment protests from the previous years. On the global health front, 2018 Ebola epidemic had passed into 2019. We believed that containment, isolation, and white-plastic coveralls were a thing, only for Africa. Meanwhile, philatelists from around the world had gathered in Wuhan, China in June 2019 for another World stamp exhibition. It was quite a straight coastline. COVID virus was probably merrily multiplying in bats, and a turbulent human pandemic was far away from our wildest imagination.

Beginnings of a turbulent cove

Beginnings of COVID are still shrouded in mystery. It all started in Wuhan wet-market, or maybe somewhere else. In far-east and across South-East Asia, markets are wet (that sell fresh produce) or dry (that sell kitchen-ware, food-grain etc). Probably the virus jumped species from one of the exotic animals here, or it was an inadvertent or a deliberate leak from a Wuhan lab. We know of first reported COVID infections from December of 2019. Subsequent back-projections put it at-least a month earlier in October-November of the same year.

World knew it first from a whistle-blower

As 2019 was nearing an end, patients with fever, breathlessness and cough had already crowded hospitals in Wuhan, China. All epidemic concerns were however relegated only to internal memos. Li Wenliang, a Wuhan Ophthalmologist was brave enough to warn other medicos on WeChat. Contrary to his expectations, Li was accused of spreading false rumours. Police made him sign an apology on 3rd January 2020. He went back to work, only to himself catch COVID five days later. WeChat forwards broke news of a serious infection to the world. WHO declared it as a public health emergency much later in January. Li succumbed to virus on 6th February 2020.

Early reports of epidemic were mixed. Medical journal, Lancet published a first report on 41 Wuhan patients. It appeared to many as a regular respiratory virus. Soon we woke up to news of strict containment measures in China. Within weeks, aided by international travel, virus spread across continents. Countries like Iran, Italy, France, and New York in US were staring at their first COVID-deaths. By the time WHO declared COVID as a pandemic on 11th March 2020, all countries in the world were already in turbulence. Livelihoods were on verge of being wiped out. No-one would have imagined that in next two years, COVID would cause between 1.8 and 3 million deaths.

The Virus and its impact

New organisms wreck havoc. This is no better explained than in the Faroe Islands. These islands, located between Iceland and Norway have seen populations wiped out with introduction of new infections. A leading medical journal describes the islands as a “pilgrim site for epidemics” These socially distanced islands teach us, that new infections come with a large number of infections, and a high mortality. Thereafter populations adapt, they develop immunity, and transmission reduces. History teaches us that epidemics end when we get used to them – biologically, politically, and psychologically. While epidemics end, its causitive organism becomes one of the many we live with.

COVID warriors and lockdowns

Many countries in the world imposed lockdowns. Trains, planes, buses, cars, shops, malls, hotels, restaurants, offices, businesses were all closed. Hospitals and health systems had only a little time to prepare. Hospitals had to prepare facilities, equipped with masks, coveralls, goggles, gloves, oxygen, respirators. Countries also had to ramp up RT-PCR tests. Swabbing, testing, PCR, and even Ct values became household names. Patients with infection were already scared, and many were bundled into hospitals and containment zones. Anyone they would find in these zones, was donning goggles, masks, and coveralls – probably scaring them further.

COVID was not easy for health-care workers either. They were first to face loads of virus, delivering care while protecting themselves. Many doctors, nurses, and paramedics were themselves infected with a disease, that did not have a definite cure. Multitude of others had to sweat-it-out in cumbersome coveralls – dehydrated and tired. Vision clouded in fogged goggles, and manual dexterity compromised in double-gloved hands were other frustrations to handle.

COVID frontline extended much beyond hospitals. We had to maintain logistics for medicines, and laboratory supplies. As lockdowns were imposed, logistics were also needed for food, grocery, and other supplies. Sanitation agencies had to clean-up all public places, sometimes with disinfectants sprays. Policemen, were entrusted not only with maintenance of containment zones, but also with helping out those entrapped in them.

World at a stand-still

Across the world we had closed down schools, and colleges. Some of these for longer than a year. About 94% of all learners faced school closures. Many industries struggled to keep up production. Tourism, hospitality, cinema and recreation sectors were in recession. Global trade became tardy, and shipping containers piled up on ports. Prices of all commodities across the globe increased. Lost jobs and dwindled incomes have not yet recovered. We all were witness to a pan-recession amidst a pandemic.

India alone has more than 1.8 crore COVID warriors. Globally all COVID warriors kept the systems running – witness to the devastation all around them. COVID tested human resilience to its extreme.

COVID Vaccination: Beginning of the end-game

Towards the end of year 2020, scientists had developed and tested first set of vaccines. We had a vaccine in less than a year of the first reported infection. This was a first in human history. As of September 2022, more than 12 billion doses of all COVID vaccines have been administered globally. These numbers are regularly updated on WHO dashboard. Today there are a total of 34 COVID vaccines, 11 of these are listed by WHO.

India rolled out its vaccination drive on 16th January 2021. This fully public funded drive achieved 100 crore (1 billion) doses in less than 10 months on 31st October 2021. India released special postal covers to mark both these landmark occasions. Today, on 2nd October 2022, India had administered 218 crore (2.18 billion) doses, vaccinating more than 1.03 billion individuals. This is highest number of COVID vaccinations globally.

Today we seemed to have crossed the turbulent cove, and have moved ahead, probably again on a straight coastline. There is a need to celebrate humanity and its resilience. We all need to thank all warriors, scientists, and historic developments in medical science for an incredible pandemic response. While, we lost many lives, but we have also emerged stronger.