My name is Vishal from India and I work for a company called UTSource in Wuhan. The world is currently battling what would go down in history as one of the fiercest events of our century—the COVID 19 pandemic. It is an enemy that has caused a pandemic of fear, the collapse of formidable economic activities, and most unfortunately, to the loss of lives. It is a battle we very well never wish to fight again if we make it through this one. COVID 19 is a respiratory ailment that affects both the young and old population. It is symptoms range from fever to shortness of breath, increased temperature and coughing. A carrier can be asymptomatic meaning he does not show the symptoms but can still spread the virus.
The objective of this writeup however is not to just talk about COVID 19, but to highlight a few points of interest in the manner with which strategic initiatives like social distancing, isolation and wearing of face masks has helped to tone down the impact of the virus, and prevented it from planting its footprints in some areas, particularly in China.

I have been in China for a while now and have even taken a picture on a subway train in Wuhan for your viewing pleasure.

You would notice from the picture that there is some seriousness with which people take the previously listed initiatives, i.e social distancing and face masks. Firstly, notice how well-spaced passengers sat and then how covered their faces are. This is public transport, but you would agree with me that it does not appear as public as standard public transports should traditional be.

Personally, I have been practicing self-isolation for the last 90 days. In all this time, the gate of my building complex has been my most distant travel. I just get to the gate occasionally to shop for groceries or collect awaiting deliveries. And even though conditions are gradually being relaxed around the world and here, I am still very cautious of  environment and careful about returning to our normal lives. The consciousness of safety still sticks. I wear  masks everywhere, people’s temperature still gets checked and they provide their mobile numbers at stores, shops and restaurants. For the mobile numbers, they collect it for record purpose, so that if they find anything about you, you can be contacted. 

You can see how seriously the recommended measures are taken over here. Even taxis have a plastic separator between the driver section and the passenger area. This is to mitigate community transfer of the virus, protecting both drivers and vulnerable passengers. Movement has been controlled with the initiation of the Resident’s Committee pass—a card with your details and unit number on it—issued to every occupant of a building complex. What this means is that you have to be granted access to go out and into building complexes; and this access can only be granted for good reasons after you have scaled through the temperature checks and other basic checks. As you probably know already, in China, people live in building complexes, only a few do not.

The point I am making here is that China has taken the lockdown rules and medical recommendations very strongly. This is buttressed by the fact that the entire province was locked down at the beginning of the year, and everyone in their little ways, are making an effort to mitigate a spread of the virus—by self-isolating. We are fully aware that this is not a matter of politics, we do not see any cause for campaigns against the government. We know for a fact that there is a deadly virus out there, alien to our body system and consequently is taking lives. We know that everyone must be personally responsible and keep themselves, neighbors and loved ones safe, as much as possible. 

I took a picture of one of my favorite spots Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan; you may want to consider paying a visit when all these are over. From my favorite spot, the Yellow Crane Tower and UTSource,...