It’s Monday morning and schools, colleges, casinos and some selective places of public gathering will go in shutdown mode. The Goa government’s decision on closure is a belated and half-hearted move that still leaves much of the State exposed. Goa not having a single positive Coronavirus case till now is no reason to feel relieved, neither is it any consolation because the fight has just begun.
The fact of the matter is, unlike in politics, Coronavirus doesn’t differentiate between religions, caste, creed or colour. It is about humanity as a whole. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachan wrote recently in his blog how Covid 19 created ‘one world’. He spoke about “philosophers, optimists, meditative geniuses, musicians and educators of life lessons and everyone who engaged in multiple discourses under one platform.
The Goa government may have shut down certain mass gathering areas selectively, but it has conveniently remained vague when it comes to communities, sections and cultural groups for fear of being politically-quarantined. Or are we to believe that the government has failed to fathom the threat perception? The need of the hour is a blanket ban on all public gatherings, whether they are political, social or religious, including retreats, Lenten services, Zatras and festivals. Citizens need to understand the inherent threat to human life very seriously. Divine intervention is a different subject altogether.
Leaving it to the organisers of mass festivals like Shigmo or the Gulal at Zambaulim could be risky at this point because there are massive crowds involved. Malls and mega shopping stores have been given concessions. Directives on political gatherings are hazy, leaving it to the discretion of authorities to differentiate between large and small meetings.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant takes pride in announcing a partial shutdown, without realising the fact that he’s left much to chance. The thermal scanners which are now introduced at several places, including railway stations, are no full-proof systems to detect every positive case. The road traveller, where the bulk of the movement happens, remains completely vulnerable since there are no checks in place.
Finally, the chief minister has promised a virology centre in 30 days. It’s a pity that Goa, which boasts of giant strides in health and infrastructure, is lacking in this department. We still need to patiently wait for 48 hours for test results to come in from neighbouring States. But how do we believe the CM on virology promise? A long time ago, we were told that Goa would have a state-of-the-art food testing laboratory. This was when Formalin-laced fish haunted Goans. Till now, not a stone has moved, and the common man is still confused on where the government has finally decided to set it up.
We need to thank our luck because despite being an international destination we haven’t been struck by Covid so far. Half-hearted safeguards could be disastrous, we need to take lessons from the world. Nations have gone into complete lockdown overlooking the financial implications and logistics. China, the home turf of Covid-19, and Spain are glaring examples. In this battle, Goa needs to be a few steps ahead of Coronavirus, or else we could be in for a disaster.
