India is one of the countries currently facing severe crises. Since there is no vaccine or cure for the disease COVID-19 keeping social distancing is the only precaution one can undertake to avoid the epidemic to spread across.
Our Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi announced a 21 days lockdown in the entire country to maintain and practice social distancing. This means there are no factories operating, places of worship are now locked, means of public transport are suspended and construction activity halted. The conventional stores and markets are open only in the mornings. Indians tend to understand the severity of infection only when fear hits them which many of them haven’t understood. For example, after the latest Tablighi Jamaat’s Nizamuddin meet Delhi became the hotspot for coronavirus after several people who joined in a religious congregation at mosque tested positive. More than 2,000 people, including foreign delegates, attended the congregation. Another example is from Aatukal Pongala, Thiruvananthapuram where a 10-day-long temple festival commenced in the state of Kerala, with hundreds of thousands in attendance. This festival was held with the Kerala government’s permission.
How long the economic impact lasts depends entirely on how long the pandemic lasts which is why it is very important to stay indoors. In a TEDxGateway Webinar: Dr. Shashi Tharoor (Member of Parliament) in conversation with Govindraj Ethiraj which was conducted on the 30th of March,2020, Dr. Shashi Tharoor said that if the lockdown continues for three months continuously, India’s economy may fall down to minus. Multiple countries are facing a slowdown in the economies, if we fail to control the pandemic eventually, the whole world will fall into a deep recession.
Here We Go Again 