Lockdown is a Boon

By Mudit Aggarwal

A novel strain of corona virus — SARS-CoV-2 — was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei province with a population of 11 million, after an outbreak of pneumonia without an obvious cause. The virus has now spread to over 200 countries and territories across the globe, and was characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. Acknowledging the seriousness of the pandemic, the Indian government announced a lockdown. I strongly believe that this is the best way to contain the spread of the virus in the context of health. Keeping yourself locked in the house, doing nothing- boring right? Starting the day with opening the laptop screen and ending the day with closing the laptop screen, trying new dishes every weekend; all our routine is fixed now as normal is a result of the lockdown. But this lockdown has had ample merits with it! Now washing hands from time to time, cleaning vegetables and every possible way to be hygienic is all our concern now and what better can take place! It has helped in the reduction of COVID 19 cases in our country. In this hard time our foremost concern must be people’s health, next comes economy and other facilities. The second and very efficient advantage for a country like India is reduction in pollution due to the decrease in usage of vehicles. The problem which our country has been trying to combat for so long is finally getting solved. Animals are moving freely on the road due to minor traffic. Now the noise caused by loudspeakers is replaced by birds chirping, which has a very soothing effect on our ears. There is also a reduction in accidents, loss of lives and crimes like murders, rapes, robbery, theft etc. have also come down. Last but not the least this lockdown has provided us time to spend with our family. So, in a nutshell, this lockdown has given us a unique experience and while being at home might not be as much fun as going out with friends, the lockdown has made us all realise the value of family, something many of us took for granted.