How prepared are we?

A young Singaporean was walking down Oxford Street, London, on 2 March when a despicable incident occurred. This student of UCL, Jonathan Mok, heard the word ‘corona’ being uttered at him and the moment he turned his head, a group of aggressive young men pounced on him, punching his face and abusing him.

A couple of weeks earlier, a Thai woman Jiraprapasuke was similarly assaulted in a Los Angeles subway, being called a corona-infected Chinese. These are just two of many such incidents in the developed world.

These reports make you wonder about what a backlash Bangladeshis would to face in European and American cities if the outbreak of corona had been in this country. As it is they face all sorts of harassment as Muslim minorities, low-paid workers, illegal immigrants and people from a poor country. Had corona spread in Bangladesh, there is no telling what more discrimination they would have had to face. There would have to surmount all sorts of hurdles in going abroad to study, on business, for jobs or on holidays.

Business, production and commute have been disrupted in countries afflicted with coronavirus. Borders are shutting down, communications are restricted, imports and exports are being affected and share markets are crashing. Bangladesh’s economy is much more fragile than that of the corona-affected countries like China, Iran, Italy or South Korea. What would happen to the people of Bangladesh if there was an outbreak of corona here?

The coronavirus scare has driven people to almost empty out the supermarkets in Australia, stocking up for emergency. In France, masks are being snatched away and in Korea hand sanitisers are being stolen. There is no rule of law in our country. One can only imagine what the immensely rich, powerful and armed people would do in the case of a coronavirus outbreak, and what predicament the rest would face.

Perhaps it is better not to know, perhaps it is better not to identify coronavirus patients. Myanmar has an open border with China and thousands of Chinese live in Myanmar. Yet till now there are no reports of anyone being affected with coronavirus in Myanmar. Corona has spread from one end of the world to the other, from New Zealand to Chile.

It has not entered Myanmar, Bangladesh, East Europe and African countries. There are debates over democracy and the rule of law in these countries, the biggest problem being transparency and accountability. Sometimes I think, let it be, let any news of coronavirus in the country be kept under covers. What would be the use of such news getting out?

There is no treatment for coronavirus. It will take at least four months for an antidote to be discovered. It will be one and a half years to create an antibody. And it will take even longer for the benefits of a vaccine to be manifest. That is why in the case of coronavirus, one must be isolated either at hospital or home. If necessary, the police or army cordon off an entire town. Schools and colleges are closed down. Arrangements are made to do office work from home.

I was just thinking about how people randomly clear their throats and spit on the roads. Will these people have the sense of responsibility to isolate themselves for three weeks if affected by coronavirus? And how many families can even afford to do so? If an entire city is cordoned off, what would happen to the country? Would the VIPs accept this? Who would provide food, medicines and security to the isolated homes, localities and towns? With schools closed, where would the children of the poor families spend their time during the day? Are there arrangements in place to work for office from home in this country? How would corona information be managed?

More importantly, how will we even get to know if anyone is affected by coronavirus in the country? Given the level of air pollution, people invariably are prone to coughs and colds all year round, so how can one tell the difference?

So perhaps ignorance is better. When there is a tsunami or air crash over which one has no control, people just leave themselves to the mercy of the Creator. Is there anything else we can do in this country?

Yes, there actually is. It is very damaging to simply keep silent. And there comes a point when it will not be possible to keep the news of coronavirus under covers. In South Korea a small Christian cult had kept the appearance of coronavirus a secret and this led to the virus spreading among a few thousand people. In England they have been cautious from the outset and so the spread has been much less. Actually, honesty, transparency and accountability cut down the damages. Knowledge and information are vital.

So what is to be done? I do not have the answer, but I want an answer. The US has said Bangladesh is in high risk of coronavirus. China says the same. The World Health Organisation is concerned about countries like Bangladesh which have poor health systems. I want to know why we are not concerned. Our ministers say, we are prepared. I want to know how we are prepared.

How will we know if anyone is affected by coronavirus? Which hospital has quarantine facilities for affected patients? What about the treatment for those remaining at home? What measures are being taken in places where many people live in close proximity, such as in hostels, messes, hospitals and slums?

Where will we have access to essentials in the case of an outbreak of coronavirus? If workers cannot work, how will they feed their families? What arrangements do we have for elderly persons at greater risk? What overall work plan does the government have concerning coronavirus? We want to know all this. We want information and awareness about coronavirus to be disseminated through mosques, temples, schools, colleges, NGOs and mobile networks.

We want to know what is to be done by the common people. We want to see the government regularly discussing the matter. They can consult with national and international health agencies. They must update the people every day. We want to know whether the government is actually concerned about the threat of coronavirus in a densely populated country like ours.

Our government is in a total quandary when it comes to the spiraling prices of onions, the population boom of Aedes mosquitoes and the Eid moon being concealed behind the clouds. And yet while developed countries are alarmed about coronavirus, in Bangladesh the authorities say, don’t worry, we are prepared.

There are, of course, people in the country who can simply slip out and go abroad, live there in peace and comfort. They have done so in the past. But they should be aware that this time it is different. If there is a coronavirus outbreak, it will be difficult indeed to go anywhere at all.

Exploiters, looters, killers can all flee abroad, but not persons from a country afflicted with coronavirus. Won’t this make the authorities a bit more cautious?

* This piece has appeared in the print edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir