Novel ways to fight novel Coronavirus - What the hell is our Prime Minister up to?

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I have been writing a lot of posts about COVID-19 recently. There is a reason for that. The pandemic is impacting everyone severely and it deserves all the attention. Because of the severity of the disease and its impact, a number of areas should be discussed on print, tv and social media - precautions that one has to take to limit the spread of the virus, there should be talk about the response of various national heads and sub-heads responsible for each country's action against the novel Coronavirus and there is should be talk about it's economic impact.

I find twitter to be a great source of knowledge because following the right kind of people means, one gets to read articles about all the above mentioned areas. I, being no expert in the field of epidemiology, and assuming that one is fully aware of what political and medical response their country is taking, want to talk about what India is doing - something that is so insanely different from other countries. It is also important to discuss it because it borders on absurd and Indian media is helping the government escape ridicule.

The first step taken by our beloved Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, was to have a Junta Curfew (link). This was asking people to stay indoors and was more of a voluntary exercise on the part of people.

Second was to bang utensils to cause vibrations that destroys the virus. Yes, this is no joke. While it was portrayed as a way to show gratitude towards those in public service. So why did the PM not ask us to clap? Or show gratitude in some other way. Staying indoors is already showing gratitude. Displaying signboards that says Thank you would have worked. But no. It wasn't a complete disaster but public came out and banged utensils like crazy -

Thank you, and yeah.. Fuck social distancing!

Now most will think that banging utensils and vibration theory is all bogus. However, not based on what people in politics have told me. This was driven by Astrology, many considered to superior to science in India.

22nd March is Amavasya, darkest day in a month. All virus, bacteria and evil forces have maximum potential and power on such days. 5 PM- clapping, shankh nada etc by 130 crore people at the same time will create so much vibrations that (the) virus will lose all potency.
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Anyway, the latest event is supposed to happen today. On Apr 03 at 09 AM, Modi Ji sent everyone a video message. Well, the video message was played on every news channel and the synopsis of it is given here.

Today on 05 April (5+4 = 9), exactly 9 days after lockdown began and with 9 days to go, at 9 PM, people have been asked to switch off all lights and light candles or diyas or torch by standing outside the house. Guess for how long has one been asked to do this? 9 minutes. Modi ji aired his request at 9 AM and the message was exactly 9 minutes long. So world, if you want to win over COVID-19, number 9 should be your way to go. Read this for more rationale of number 9.

So yeah, India is the 5th or 6th largest economy in the world. We have had many great scientists but when it comes to COVID-19, our PM will never come and inform people what he is doing, how many tests are being done, what is the strategy to fight the virus or how many medical equipment have we ordered. He will come on TV and say I need the your help. He very diligently involves the public in everything and everyone feels that things are under control. Whereas things are not. As evidenced by the labour force fiasco that happened after the lockdown. As evidenced by job losses and as evidenced by crashing stock prices. At the ground level, the supply chains for even essential items have not been restored. Harvesting season is upon as and with no labour, harvesting crops is going to be a pain.

I was speaking to my mother yesterday and she was telling me that because farmers are not in a position to transport crops out of the state, vegetable prices have crashed. And in cities like Delhi, vegetable prices are soaring! There is complete mismanagement, no uniformity in how various states are implementing guidance from the Centre, and now reports are coming out that the lockdown will end in different states at different times. These stupid reports create confusion in the minds of an already anxious society, dealing with tremendous psychological pressure from worrying about health, job security, family well-being and uncertainty about when all this will end. Banging Utensils and Lighting diyas will not help. Scientific discourse and proper communication will!