Global impact on Coronavirus

By Moses Sine

The Covid-19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic disease of 2019. The outbreak was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei province, China in December 2019. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic on 11th March, 2020. The virus originated in the seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, China. Most people think it has been infected by bats. The virus that caused the outbreak is known as SARS-COV-2.

The Covid-19 is mainly spread from person to person during close contact. In most cases, it is spread through small droplets produced by coughing, sneezing and talking. According to the Chinese government, Wuhan city and the entire Hubei province were immediately under strict lockdown on January 23rd to stop the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 78,000 people worldwide.

The first Covid-19 case was discovered outside of mainland China in Washington, USA. The US government ordered a strict nationwide lockdown. Countries like France, Thailand, South Korea, Canada, India, Russia, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom were also lockdown. The rest of the world joins forces to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

We in Papua New Guinea got locked down starting in March 2020. All schools and most businesses were closed. People immediately felt the effects of unemployment, hunger, fear, chaos, confusion, family separation, travel bans and this had a great impact on the country’s economy and other countries in the world. People have described the economic impact as one of those felt during the time of the great depression.

The scientist suggestion some preventive measures, including washing hands, covering your mouth when coughing, keeping your distance from others, wearing a mask in public places and monitoring and self-isolation of suspected infected persons. Personally, this experience made my own Enga people question whether this is the end of the world. My grandmother and cousins said that the Lord will return and take us to heaven. I felt the same too.

In my opinion, I think the virus does not come from animals. The Chinese government had created it in a laboratory and shifted the blame to animals. I mean, can you believe that the coronavirus came from a small flying mammal that killed millions of people in just a few weeks? Besides, we know that the Chinese used to be good at keeping dirty secrets, so I think the Chinese are hiding something from the rest of the world. Supporting this fact is that a Chinese doctor who treated the first coronavirus patients was suppressed by the government and eventually infected and died.
Currently, our country is in a post Covid-19 state. After three months of strict lockdown, it has returned back to normal. Students are going back to school, companies are open, domestic flights are open and people are travelling. Only international flights have been banned to travel. The local economy is trying to pick up, people are socialising but with a new normal, such as washing hands frequently, covering your mouth when sneezing or coughing. It is great to see this country progress again.

For some countries, they are still fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic. We do feel sorry for them and pray that God will save people from this deadly virus. This experience of the Covid-19 pandemic has changed our way of life. The Covid-19 pandemic has created history in our generation, and it will take a long time to forget this pandemic experience.