COVID-19: A Rich Man’s Disease And Poor Man’s Suffering!

The entire advent of pandemic lies at the emergence from a popular animal market in Wuhan. It has been speculated that its origin is either through a bat or an illegally trafficked scaly animal called pangolin. 

The danger does not lie for people who can afford sedentary lifestyle but lies for the people who have to work. Living in a country that has a dense population and gaping inequities, the virus is set to hit communities different. Focusing on the 92 million households that live in one room homes, social distancing is a theoretical concept here. The unprecedented lockdown has affected millions who are forcibly made to flee cities and walk hundreds of kilometres to their native villages. Most of them have no savings to fall back on amid this crisis. 

The ones who eat wildlife animals are a small minority and usually belong to a rich class. The amendments to the Wildlife Protection Law of 1989 that were needed to be enacted in order to absolutely prohibit the hunting, killing, selling and purchasing of the rare and endangered species of animals has not been adhered to and has now resulted in this pandemic. 

The spread resulted in India and was brought in India by the country's elites and the upper middle class. 

Starting from the first case of a Kerala resident returning from Wuhan, China to Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor who slipped through the screening spots after returning from UK and further joined the politicians at various social events over the next few days thus widening the spread. 

The likes of Kanika Kapoor are not the only ones responsible, several political leaders who had to follow the norms did not do so. Further to which, the government neither cancelled the tour of USA President Donald Trump irrespective of the fact that the outbreak was already raging globally.

The elites never cancelled their parties and abandoned their travel plans to keep themselves quarantined at homes. 

Let's look at the cases wherein the coronavirus spread reached a level further through the upper middle class and rich societies :

1. The first three Indians tested positive for coronavirus are from Kerala and have been discharged, but home-quarantined. Kerala reported five more coronavirus cases on 08 March, 2020 and continues to report fresh cases, starting from someone who had returned from abroad.
2. Two Italians who arrived in Hoshiarpur in Punjab had tested positive in a preliminary test conducted at All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
3. Eight COVID-19 cases were reported in Pune, Maharashtra. The first infected were a couple who had returned from Dubai.
4. One coronavirus-infected was identified in Hyderabad.. The infected person returned from Dubai to Hyderabad after completing a business trip. One person in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, tested positive for coronavirus after having returned from a trip to Italy.
5. Coronavirus was confirmed in an Italian couple who arrived in Rajasthan. A total of 16 Italian tourists and one indian driver contracted the virus.
6. A Delhiite with travel history to Thailand and Malaysia was tested COVID-19 positive in the region of Delhi. An employee of payments company Paytm in Gurugram had tested positive for coronavirus after returning from Italy. The COVID-19 also infected a person in New Delhi who returned from Italy. The people who came in contact with these persons had tested positive.
7. The first coronavirus case in Odisha was an Indian who returned from Italy.
8. India also reported positive cases of 16 people from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined off the coast of Yokohama in Japan.

"Thousands of migrants workers have been forced to leave their rented homes as they are unable to pay rent. It is important that the government intervenes and provides them money for their rent immediately," opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said in a letter to Narendra Modi

If the virus hits the below poverty line regime, curbing the spread will be a very difficult situation something that the current government is not equipped to handle. 

Further to which here are several celebrities around the world who stand affected by the pandemic : 

The Government officials who tested positive for coronavirus : 

1. Carmen Calvo: Spain's deputy prime minister tested
2. Prince Charles: The Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne tested
3. Abba Kyari:  The Nigerian president's chief of staff
4. Rand Paul:  The Republican from Kentucky is the first US senator to test
5. Prince Albert:  Monaco's Prince Albert II
6. Michel Barnier:  The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator
7. Bento Albuquerque: Brazil's Mines and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque
8. Augusto Heleno: Brazil's national security adviser
9. Jeremy Issacharoff: Israel's ambassador to Germany
10. Friedrich Merz: The 64-year-old politician, who has been campaigning to lead Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
11. Kozo Tashima:  The head of Japan's football association
12. Nadine Dorries:  A minister in the UK's health department was the first British politician
13. Peter Dutton:  The Australian home affairs minister
14. MassoumehEbtekar:  The Iranian vice president
15. Sophie Gregoire Trudeau: The wife of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau
16. Begona Gomez: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife
17. Quim Torra: The local leader of Spain’s Catalonia region
18. Pere Aragones: The Catalan deputy head of government
19. Irene Montero: The Spanish minister
20. Franck Riester: The French minister of culture
21. Francis Suarez:  The mayor of the US city of Miami confirmed.
22. Fabio Wajngarten: The press secretary for Brazilian President Bolsonaro
23. Michal Wos: Poland's environment minister
24. OumarouIdani: Burkina Faso's minister of mines
25. Stanislas Ouaro: Burkina Faso's minister of education
26. Simeon Sawadogo: Burkina Faso's interior minister
27. Alpha Barry: Burkina Faso's foreign minister
28. Boris Johnson: The prime minister of the United Kingdom
29. Matthew Hancock: Britain's Health Secretary
30. Alister Jack: Scottish Secretary and member of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Cabinet

Celebrities who tested positive: 

1. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson: The popular Hollywood couple
2. Luis Sepulveda: The best-selling Chilean writer, who lives in northern Spain
3. Olga Kurylenko: The French actress, who starred in the Bond movie Quantum of Solace
4. Idris Elba: The British actor and musician
5. Kristofer Hivju: The 41-year-old actor, who played Tormund on Game of Thrones
6. Daniel Dae Kim: The South Korean-American actor best known for the television series Hawaii Five-0
7. Placido Domingo: On March 22, the Spanish opera singer
8. Kanika Kapoor: Indian singer famous for her song "babydoll" (Tested positive 5th time also)

In India, many celebrities and politicians have self-isolated themselves including the people who were present at the social event organised by the President Ram Nath Kovind wherein Kanika Kapoor was present as well. Anupam Kher and Shabana Azmi have isolated themselves upon their return from abroad.