#CoronaVirus

We are currently witnessing something so unfortunate & serious, which none of us would have even remotely imagined happening. The whole world is on its knee fighting the deadly virus. The virus is certainly testing every country's ability to handle such an epidemic. Not just that, it is also testing the ability of people and the society overall on how they are gonna respond to such a unprecedented issue in hand.

It's almost 2 months since the day we started seeing the news from China about this new virus and how badly it is spreading, infecting thousands and killing so many. I got a very bad feeling about it immediately then. I was told I'm taking it too seriously, that I'm reading a lot into it & that I'm pressing the panic button a little too early. But, seeing the way this virus has spread across the whole world affecting so many lives in so many different ways in last few weeks, the same folks came back just to tell me that I wasn't entirely wrong in my evaluation.

I'm 37 years old and these are few things which I've never seen in my life before:

• A disease spreading so fast & affecting so many lives covering almost whole world
• Whole lot restrictions on international travels, visa cancellations
• Quarantine procedures on this large scale
• Government/Health department taking so many precautions & awareness activities:
• Shutting down businesses, offices, shopping malls
• Closing schools. Imagine schools having last month of academic year yet to complete asked to close immediately & cancel the exams
• Asking mobile operators to have caller tunes with information about the virus and how to act
• And many more.

We had seen to some extend other viruses and their affects in case of EBOLA, NIPAH etc. But this Covid-19 certainly went to the next level.

As of today, there are about ~110 positive cases in India with 2 deaths and 4 have recovered. Good thing China is showing signs of decline. Italy, Iran, South Korea and many other countries going through some tough peaks. Hope every country will start showing the declines soon. But that to happen, it's not just Governments or State Departments' responsibility, it's in fact every individual's responsibility to do their bit and make sure it doesn't spread.

We all need to follow:

• Social distancing is what is required
• Social networking apps/sites are one different beast to fight. We all know, these social media facilitates an easy way of sharing information but at the same time, fake/false information and unverified details gets shared along. That line of distinction is getting murkier day by day
• Follow the medical procedures strictly provided by the health department in case of direct contact or being infected
• Co-operate and support in any other ways necessary

These are the times when each one of us need to show that maturity and prove we have that sense of responsibility towards our loved ones and also towards fellow human beings. After all, we are the evolved species!