ASAD ALI
The coronavirus, which was emerged in Wuhan (China) in December 2019, has spread around the world. China was the first country who took some strict measures to contain the pandemic. They locked down their affected areas and especially the entire city “Wuhan”. They did not allowed to anyone to enter or exit from Wuhan or other mostly affected areas. That time some human rights organisations and pseudo intellectuals started criticizing China but later it has been proven that Chinese Model was the best model to contain the deadly disease. Now after two months they ease lockdown in Wuhan and allowed their citizens to go out from their homes, life and smile is coming back in China after a short dark and hard period. Chinese nation always stood firm against any challenge and threat in history and yet again they proved, they are strong enough as a nation to fight.
Chinese nation followed all the instructions which was given by their institutions and they proved they are a true nation who respects the governments decisions and who can defeat any kind of threat to their existence. China has limited the spread of coronavirus by social distancing, social awareness and strict quarantine policies. When this virus was emerged that time, no one was can imagine the fast spread of the deadly virus. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), coronavirus has infected 81,439 people in China, killed 3,300 people, 75,448 people got fully recovered and 2,691 people are still getting treatment in hospitals. In China the fatality rate is 4% and in the rest of world is 4.7%. Chinese government and the peoples played an important role to defeat the deadly disease. Chinese doctors and paramedic staff proved they are capable to deal Covid-19.
China not just fighting with epidemic, they are also fighting against the Western propaganda. From the very beginning the U.S. and their allies started calling it “Chinese Virus” and “Wuhan Virus” and tried to politicise. Now the U.S. and Europe are the epicentre of the deadly disease. In USA, the virus has infected 123,750 people and killed 2,227. If we look at the top four countries (Italy, Spain, France and Germany) of the European Union, they are badly affected by the virus. In these four countries, the virus infected 260,977 people and killed 18,752. The fatality rate is almost 7%. The U.S. President Trump paid less attention to save their citizens and wasted time by criticizing China.
Every country has its own culture and every society has its unique eating habits. At the time when coronavirus emerged in China, some Western media tried to create misperceptions and hatred against China, especially in Pakistan, which is very close friend of China. The major misperception was; as Chinese peoples eat wild animals etc. that’s why they got infected by coronavirus. But the truth is something different, if we study Chinese culture, we can see that they are eating wild animals from last hundreds of years. So, in my opinion it is a false propaganda against the Chinese civilization.
China also helping other affected countries by sending their doctors, paramedics and the medical equipment. Chinese corporate sector also helping the world to fight against the pandemic. The Jack Ma foundation of China and famous online shopping site Alibaba group of China has sent medical supplies to Pakistan and other affected countries in Europe.
Because of the pandemic most of the countries have shut down their educational institutions, restaurants & shopping malls, imposed health emergencies, locked down their cities, closed their borders and airspace and imposed ban on all kind of gatherings. These all preventive measures are best to contain the Covid-19 but social distancing, social awareness and strict quarantine policies are very necessary to defeat the deadly virus, as China successfully did. We should follow very common phrase to fight against the virus, “United we stand, divided we fall”, otherwise the human and economic loss will be irreversible.
Author is Research Associate at Eurasian Century Institute, Islamabad.
