Life on Earth has been evident since time immemorial. Generations after generations have lived their life and died due to multiple problems arising overtime. But none had faced the lethal and malignant disease until the 21st century. The Corona- virus, also known ‘COVID’ 19’ is a new virus linked to the same family of viruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and some types of common cold.
COVID’ 19 has challenged multiple fronts including political, economic and health-care fronts. We are all currently susceptible to multiple losses daily—loss of financial security, loss of social/physical connections, and loss of autonomy to move freely in the world. Many individuals are also experiencing a loss of physical/mental health and general safety and autonomy.
ECONOMIC FRONT
The Corona-virus has lead to the downfall of world’s total economy by (–) 3.0 while the global financial crisis in 2009 only lead to downfall of – (0.9). This is a downgrade of 6.3 percentage points from January 2020, a major revision over a very short period. Further in the report it is mentioned that the numbers mentioned are on the baseline level. Given the extreme uncertainty around the duration and intensity of the health crisis, we also explore alternative, more adverse scenarios. The pandemic may not recede in the second half of this year, leading to longer durations of containment, worsening financial conditions, and further breakdowns of global supply chains. In such cases, global GDP would fall even further: an additional 3 percent in 2020 if the pandemic is more protracted this year, while, if the pandemic continues into 2021, it may fall next year by an additional 8 percent compared to our baseline scenario.
HEALTH FRONT
The Health front was even affected as when the lockdown started. Considering the Global level, The main finding is that health services have been partially or completely disrupted in many countries. More than half (53%) of the countries surveyed have partially or completely disrupted services for hypertension treatment; 49% for treatment for diabetes and diabetes-related complications; 42% for cancer treatment, and 31% for cardiovascular emergencies.
Taking into consideration the national level, there were not enough testing kits in India and thus were imported in a large amount from China. After the condition of the state deteriorated, the public hospitals were not fully equipped with personal protective equipment, ventilators, and intensive care unit beds and thus caused further problems.
SOCIAL FRONT
The Social front is also affected as the mere focus has been on Social Distancing and isolating patients in quarantine centers. This has caused stigma, contempt and hatred for the patients and their family members by the society. As there have been 9,520 deaths till the date on which this article was written, there were countless bodies lying in the quarantine centers which had no one to take care of. Mr. Kumar, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, said the fundamental right to die with dignity embraces the right to decent burial or cremation. Thus the Supreme Court had ordered recently on 11th June 2020 to handle the bodies with dignity and to perform basic last rites for the same.
DEATH AND DIGNITY
Death is end-of-life (EOL) process and dying is the end process of the life. It can become stressful when one comes to know that he or she is going to die due to an incurable disease.. In Ancient India, there was a concept of ‘Good Death’. “Dehatya” and “Jal Samadhi” were quite evident. People used these practices when they believed that their life purpose had been achieved. Death around us can be natural and unnatural. Natural deaths can include the fatal diseases while unnatural deaths include Accidents and Calamities etc.
The great German philosopher Immanuel Kant thought that human beings occupy a-special place in creation. Of course he was not alone in thinking this. It is an old idea: from ancient times, humans have considered themselves to be essentially different from all other creatures-and not just different but better. In fact, humans have traditionally thought themselves to be quite fabulous. Kant certainly did. In his view, human beings have “an intrinsic worth, i.e., dignity,” which makes them valuable’ “above all price.” Other animals, by contrast, have value only insofar as they serve human purposes. Every human is entitled to live with dignity with enjoyment of Fundamental Rights. Moreover, with Article 21 i.e. Right to Life. If the dignity would have been same for all then the conditions would have been different, then the poor would not have walked around 700 kilometers just to reach their own home while the rich are living a life full of luxury.
There is tremendous loss of dignity in the scenario of COVID’ 19 as people who didn’t get a chance to live a life with dignity will even die without dignity as there is a tremendous stigma in the society for corona-virus patients. The COVID-19 pandemic represents also a crisis of democratic regression, as government leaders instrumentalize the pandemic as an excuse for the accumulation of emergency powers, while curbing political dissent and other forms of democratic checks and balances.
This has lead to the failure of Global Capitalist System in protecting the dignity and rights of human beings. Cases for the same have been reported in Philippines, Netherlands and United Kingdom.
So in order to prevent such mis-happenings, WHO and Indian Health Ministry came to the conclusion that if the bodies are sanitized and specific measures are taken then the virus can be prevented from spreading further and thus some dignity can be given. However, a tremendous reminder is evident on investing in Healthcare sector in India so there can be improvements in equipments for controlling deaths.
