CORONA VIRUS: The New GLOBAL contagious PANDEMIC

(Please find all information is correct as of 24/4/2020 when this article was written and numbers of death tolls are from the 24th April 2020).

Introduction:

Two million people have come into contact with the Virus and over 196,000 people have died Internationally to date.

The Deadly virus originated from China – Wuhan – where the first case of Corona Virus also referred to as (CO-Vid19) was identified between late November and early December 2019 and was a global pandemic within the first few months of 2020.

Initial emergence of Corona, brief Analysis:

When the CO-VID19 hit the Chinese New Year celebrations were about to begin on January 25th (2020), it is in Chinese culture the year of the RAT which is meant to bring about Success, Peace and Intelligence to the year. Unfortunately Corona ensured the Chinese New Year 2020 was cancelled.

The Virus continues to be a global ongoing pandemic with more people sadly losing their lives day by day.

As the rate of deaths increases, so do concerns from people all around the world and the people it has impacted upon; if not everyone.

The virus that has originated from Bats/ or the Pangolin family has proved to be a dangerous and deadly virus which has evolved and transmitted to humans and evolved; with the ability to transmit from human to human a dangerous mix which has meant that the World has been on lockdown with containment of whole Countries whilst citizens are asked to practice self-isolation, social distancing in a containment effort to control the outbreak of CO-VID19; with many people having to adjust to daily life, the loss of many jobs, with economies having halted to a stop too.

Although Corona shrouds itself in death there are still glimmers of hope; businesses from all over the world have been adapting, changing their production output, to serve the purpose of fighting Corona.

An example of this is Italy; where companies like Armani are now making protective clothing instead of luxurious designer wear. Ferrari have been manufacturing respirators instead of sports cars, Gucci is making face masks, and Bvlgari are making hand sanitizers. It has been amazing to see how every business in the world is trying to adapt in the battle to send Corona away for good.

LOCKDOWN

Today the Norm is for people to wear masks and to only go out for essentials, whilst cutting their own hair at home, and doing work from home. For those unable to work from home, life is still boring at home in the Lockdown with nothing to really do, especially since all sports events have been cancelled. Also many of our daily dietary routines have changed with many people choosing to cook at home and many resteraunts like Nando’s and McDonalds providing some of their recipes, enabling citizens to cook at home rather than risk going to places where there are still gatherings.

Mr President Donald Trump refers to the “All out War on CORONA” whilst many from the British Government have referred to Corona as the main enemy and this as World War 3 from members of the public commenting on the outbreak of Corona.

All International efforts of Unity are focusing on the battle to defeat the Virus in the form of lockdowns with most Countries still in containment mode.

A point of interest is that many Countries in lockdown have interpreted the WHO guidance differently:

A liberal approach from Coutnries like Sweden which kept their schools open throughout the pandemic. Whilst in the UK we took a slightly more moderate approach with Schools only being open for the children of key workers.

Whether it be the UK the USA or Third World Countries; COVID has caused chaos, panic, uncertainty and death everywhere; it seems the World was caught off guard by this Pandemic even though a Global Pandemic had soon been expected.

Many Scientists sent warnings to Governments around the World before the outbreak; it is only now that it is too late, that we realise these warnings should have been heeded earlier.

It is unusual that the many governments were thrown aback by the outbreak and spread of the virus, and were unable to effectively organise Nationally as well as externally with the rest of the world in order to combat the spread and death toll.

It now remains to be seen whether the Governments around the World can pull their Countries back together and ultimately stop the virus without contributing to too many deaths as the numbers continue to rise steadily in favour of the invisible virus killer.

Chaos

With the Virus, came the panic buying and stockpiling of foods, drinks, and surprisingly toilet roll, however this soon calmed down when people realised that it was silly to be over-buying and of course was not fair on others.

The UK saw the release of prisoners early due to COVID 19 and a need for the prisons to be safe enough to contain prisoners and the virus; of course their may also be anxiety to keeping the death rates down within the country.

The UK and the US have both received flack from the media and public – with criticism being based on issues of ordering the lockdowns too late and not preparing enough for this new virus. Especially when the number of care home deaths was not reported at all, when there were a significant number of deaths happening at care homes around the UK.

Mayor Siddique Khan came under fire too when he claimed to be making an effort to obtain masks for TFL (Transport for London) staff, like bus drivers and underground workers.

There has been plenty of controversy surrounding Corona; the main controversies have been to do initially with Government handling of the Virus from the outset, also there has been a massive delay in the UK for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). With Dr’s, Nurses, Care workers and key workers all in dire need; And the worry now is that they are being asked to re-use their equipment by the UK Government, however the PPE has a short re-use expectancy.

There has been much controversy shrouded around the Virus such as when and where the virus originated and why it was allowed to spread internationally.

People have been speculating on the COVID VIRUS too with a number of conspiracy theories growing daily; such as Bill Gates being the reason for the Pandemic (as strange as it sounds) and owning the patent for Corona.

There are worrying theories too, that this may be a human made virus and that the virus originates from not only bats but snakes too. It is not surprising that theories like this exist as the Chinese Government have been very hush on the specifics of who the first person was to contract the virus, how they contracted it and where they contracted it from with; an example of this is that the virus originated from a wet market in Wuhan, China, yet this claim is still unsubstantiated.

Wet markets are where fish, meat, and live animals are sold, all in one place, quite a cauldron of mixture for this virus to form, especially when you add humans to this mixture.

International Concern and Celebrity Influence vs Corona Influenza:

Bollywood actors/actresses such as Anushka Sharma and her Cricketer Husband Virat Kohli are pleading their nations’ and worlds’ citizens’ to stay at home rather than risk the danger of contracting the virus by going out unecessarily.

As for Hollywoo,d Tom Hanks had everyone worried when he contracted the virus; there was also a film which predicted this outbreak aptly named “PANDEMIC” filmed in early 2019 and released amongst the Corona chaos in January 2020.

Embarassing and dangerous, the British Prime-Minister Boris Johnson himself contracted the Virus whilst trying to ensure the success of a lockdown and promoting a message to everyone to social distance and stay at home.

When the Prime-minister of the UK went into intensive care it was a scary moment for the country as it could have been worse for the country if PM Johnson hadn’t made it out; similarly Prince Charles contracted the virus but was not taken into intensive care but made to self-isolate. Recently Prince William has been promoting the lockdown, reassuring the government message that it is for the safety of everyone.

However in America there is more support gaining for the easing of the lockdown with many wealthy business people losing out; with the temporary closure of business due to Lockdowns. The economy has been suffering in the US as a result, many people have lost out in their investments within the stock markets with stocks falling or losing their value sharply.

Edris Elba after recovering from Corona with his wife have started a campaign to raise $200 million and are seeking the help of governments and the private sector to do this. They are particularly concerned about the third world countries and the effect Corona is having on the poor people; and they mentioned that over half a million people around the world could end up living in poverty due to Corona.

The Rise of Corona Charity Work

It is not just celebrities who have been working towards the fight against Corona but also general members of the public doing challenges like climbing the height of Everest by going up and down their staircases to raise money.

Captain Tom Moore from the UK served in the Second World War and came up with an ingenius way to raise money for the NHS corona staff by walking 100 laps of his garden and completed this at 99 years old going on a hundred years; the target total was half a million pounds and Captain Tom Moore managed to raise in total £28,515,322 with the help of 1,342,589 supporters.

POLLUTION:

We are seeing that our air quality has improved in many places around the world as a result of fewer cars on roads; And now the Himalayas is once again visible in India, due to a stop to daily traffic and as with other parts of the World a stop to all business; has meant globally the environment is doing its best, to recover, from the suffocating toxic atmosphere it has been subjected to the past century by humankind.

Nature is flourishing due to the Lockdown

As a result of less pollution and cleaner air, water, and of course a major lack of interference from humans, not only has the environment benefited; however nature too, animals have been found wondering the city spaces whether in broad daylight or night, for them there is extra territory free from humans for them to wonder into and explore.

Economy

The Economy of every Country has been effected by this contagious virus and all have halted to a stop very quickly. The price of oil is valued now in the negative numbers and oil production is slowly grinding to a stop as there is simply no demand and the oil is being over-produced now and oil companies have had to pay for disposing the over produced barrels of oil.

The Governments are now trying to strike a balance between Lockdown and the economy, especially President Trump of the USA, he has in his country decided to start an easing of the lockdown in some States already and this could be because he needs the economy up and running again.

In America unemployment benefit claims have within the last week jumped to 6.6 million citizens and 26 million have lost their jobs to Corona Virus in the US.

The UK government has seen an increase in those claiming benefits due to lack of employment, and of course CO-VID19 has had a dramatic effect on job losses with businesses going bust and airlines like Virgin in possible collapse.

The UK has also seen Debenhams close down as it cannot survive in this current economic climate.

140,000 small businesses in the UK alone have applied for help from the British Government.

We are seeing big business giants helping in the fight against Corona, although we are still awaiting the emergence of small entrepeneurs who are only starting to trickle through now.

Many countries may be looking at facing recession in the near future due to the effect of Corona Virus on the World.

US – China economic relations may be strained further in the future too and Corona will most likely be the reason.

Disinformation

All around the world people are sharing disinformation on apps like facebook and watsapp; In the form of fake medical tips and advice, and theories like the new 5G speeds are the cause of the virus and 5G towers have been attacked as well as company employees for the new 5G networks. Of course there are always reminders from President Trump that there is a lot of fake news out there too, hopefully not from the mainstream media.

Notable Previous Pandemics:

Ebola – 2014 – linked to Bats/Primates – has no cure as yet and has killed 11,000 to date.

H5N1 – Also known as Bird Flu – linked to birds and poultry – does not have a high death rate as yet but could be dangerous if nothing is done to tackle a bird flu pandemic. Bird flu seems to trigger on and off like a switch and has a high mortality rate with no vaccine as yet.

H1N1 – 2009/2010 – linked to Pigs/Farms – has killed 600,000 to date and is referred to as Swine Flu – there are now annual vaccines in use.

SARS – Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003– linked to wet markets with a death toll of 1,000 – there is currently no cure.

AIDS – linked to Primates – 32million havde died to date – no cure.

HUMANS too close in proximity to ANIMALS

Is it time to reconsider our safety before animal viruses wipe us out?

60% of known infectious diseases in humans are transmitted from virus of animals!

Many people have started to change their diet and turn vegan or vegetarian, due to the dangers posed of eating meat, especially with all the viruses so prevalently making their way into our lives.

If Human kind were able to stop their relations with Animals the world would be safer as there is no risk of a virus being transmitted to humans. Eating meat and farming meat are not going to help the fight against Corona but could stop a future pandemic like this happening again.

Religion

Many people have been told to worship from home and Ramadan for Muslims just recently started and London Mayor – has asked the Muslim community to avoid social gatherings; until the virus pandemic passes. This means that Holy places of worship will be seeing no worshippers at all due to the guidance on gatherings; many holy institutions are doing their bit to raise money to fight Corona too.

DEATH TOTALS WORLDWIDE

The US has suffered a total of 911,000 total cases and the total number of deaths in the US is 51,516 at the time of writing. (24/04/2020)

The UK have a total of 19,506 deaths and the total number of cases are 143,000. These figures do not take into account deaths in care homes. (24/4/2020).

It is worth mentioning that there has been a huge uproar over lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for NHS Staff and Dr’s and Nurses have either had to re-use PPE over and over or go without due to the disorganisation and lack of preparedness for a Pandemic on this scale.

Those on the frontline are very much heroes because they’ve put their personal safety before others going without masks and sometimes even appropriate clothing i.e.- aprons.

Europe still seems to be the centre of Corona and has been referred to as the new hub of the Virus and countries like Spain / Italy / France are where most cases and deaths have occured with the UK following in fifth and the US in top position for most deaths.

India has 23,452* active cases and 723* deaths, and suffered horrid controversy when an immediate and decisive lockdown was implented with only a days notice for everyone; leaving many nationals travelling within India stuck. This mixed with the high poverty levels in India has also meant that people were left hungry and fighting over food rations, with nowhere to go. The Government were slow to react and will be criticised for their treatment of the public and the poor. (24/4/2020).*

Africa is the latest country to be fighting Corona cases, and it is feared that Africa will not be able to cope due to its poor infrastructure all around the country; people are unable to work and earn money and therefore are left without the ability to purchase food; the food aid packages from the Government is not enough to sustain the entire populations of the countries within Africa. Currently the amount of total cases in Africa are 27,385 and the number of deaths at the time of writing are 1,297. (24/4/2020)

As for China, when they went on immediate lockdown, there was much censorship excercised by the government to mute talk about the virus. The Chinese government also used this lockdown to gather further information on their citizens via mobile phone apps linked to information about their citizens health. China currently has a total of 84,311 total cases and the number of deaths total is at 4,642. (24/4/2020.)

Iran was one of the countries to first be hit by the Pandemic and chaos entailed with the country put on lockdown. Although there have been conspiracy theories that there has been a cover up in the number of corona related deaths and China is also accused of doing the same. Iran racked up a total of 88,194 total cases with a total death of 5,574. (As of 24/4/2020)

There is much controversy within South Africa regarding the lockdown and detention centres where homeless people and drug addicts have been sent to until the lockdown is over.

CURE :

National Geographic says there are more viruses than stars; yet why do only some viruses effect us; perhaps this could be a discussion to have with friends, family, colleagues whilst on your next video group conferencing as this is the latest trend to socialise whilst maintaining the lockdown, containment and self-isolation.

As for a CURE there are urgent clinical trials happening all over the World and within the UK to find one; although to no avail as yet, it comes as a surprise to many that Human trials are taking place in Oxford -England so soon. So far the total number of people to recover from Corona is 781,754. As of (24/4/2020)

Corona virus testing has been a concern for all Governemnts around the World and the scrutiny and criticism received from the awful figures of testing has been put under the spot light by the media and the public. In the UK they are looking at ways to speed up the testing process to make it simpler more efficient and less time consuming as well as less sampling needed.

As for the Lockdown in the UK, the toll on citizens mental health is not taken into account and many people will be struggling with staying indoors for much longer; this Lockdown solution has seen the number of domestic abuse cases on the rise; as everyone has been urged to “Stay home and Stay Safe and Save Lives”.

There has also been a finding that many ethnic minorites have died in the UK from Corona although no one knows what to make of this finding as yet, this trend has caused a stir in the concerns for the more likely to be vulnerable; people such as the senior citizens and the young children and those with underlying health conditions from the ethnic minority backgrounnds.

Lastly it is important to mention that from the World Health Organisation (WHO) investigation into Wuhan, China and the emergence of the Virus; their findings were: That this virus was not human made and that the virus was not manipulated in the lab.

However with all the censorship in China and lack of information it is not a surprise that many people still blame China – including President Trump. It is however scary to think that lab made viruses could be a very dangerous venture, and something to stay well away from in the future.

Conclusion :

Time to Heal the World – Fight against Corona; And make a decision to save the Climate before it is too late. We can make a difference!

The time to make up minds on what kind of world we really want to leave behind for future generations is now!