Act responsibly

This refers to the report ‘India crosses 4 million coronavirus cases with record surge’ (Sept. 6). Even though positive cases are on the rise, the worrying scenario for the world should be people who are hospitalised for COVID-19 treatment and ICU admissions.  If those numbers are on the rise, the mortality rate is also expected to rise.  However, death cases in India are comparatively less, which is a sigh of relief.

For any country, indefinite closure of business activities is not possible anymore. Along with the economy, the survival of people would become difficult if the situation persists. Therefore opening of commercial activities which will contribute to the daily living of millions in a country like India is a must.

Meanwhile, it is learned that basic COVID-19 protocols are largely overlooked by people. Social distancing, wearing facemasks are the primary control measures to stop the spread of the virus and overlooking them will further jeopardise the situation.  People have been urged to stop crowd gathering and avoid any kind of get-togethers and functions to minimise the exposure, yet the message has not been accepted in a desired manner.

It is the time for everyone to slowly adjust to life with COVID-19 and respecting the basic control measures is the responsibility that rests on every single individual.      

Ramachandran Nair — Muscat