essay on the uses after ending covid-19 lockdown.
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The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is of a scale most people alive today have never seen. Lockdowns and curfews to contain the spread of the virus impacted the way children learn, the way their families earn a living, and how safe they feel in their homes and communities. Despite the ongoing threat, countries around the world are starting to lift restrictions. As we question whether we will ever go back to what we once knew to be “normal”, its worth taken a step back to see how we can build on what we have learned to build back a better world for children.
As a journalist, UNICEF photographer Tomislav Georgiev was one of the rare professionals with a permit to go out during the curfews and capture images of the deserted streets of the capital. But he discovered that in times like this, the most valuable images can be found closer to home. He turned his lenses from the outside world to capture photos of his own family with a loving eye. In a household where four generations live together, Tomislav captured scenes of play, family celebrations, sharing, exploring and learning new skills.
“I realized that no matter how much time we think we have; at the end of the day, what I came to appreciate was that we simply don’t spend enough quality time with our families,” says Tomislav.
Days in lockdown were an opportunity for children to reinvent ways of play and learning, exploring their immediate environment and making the most of what they had available. Building resilience in children is one way we help them to cope in difficult moments.
Curfews were also a time to help children learn responsibility and their role in contributing in our own way to find a solution to collective problems. “The silent understanding of my children was simply astonishing. We stay home, no questions asked, no demands to go and play with friends. Their lives have completely changed, yet they seem to grasp the importance of their contribution better than most adults,” says Tomislav.
Some even learned new skills but what matters most is learning to appreciate the emotional connections made between different generations. Its these connections that help us to develop the emotional resilience’s we need to get through stressful times.
“It is true – this crisis has taken its toll on humanity. However, it also provided an opportunity for generations to unite and perhaps begun to shape our younger generations to think differently about their own individual roles and how we as individuals can all contribute in our own way to find a solution to collective problems,” says Tomislav.
UNICEF remains committed to its mission to provide essential support, protection and information as well as hope of a brighter day for every child. UNICEF stands united with one clear promise to the world: we will get through this together, for every child.
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What will life be like when India and the rest of the world lift the lockdown completely? Will life as we knew it before Covid-19 return? Well, with the extension of the nation-wide lockdown for another two weeks, albeit with significant relaxations, we will have to wait for some more time to find out.
We have had a lockdown for nearly six weeks now. The Karnataka government has partially lifted the lockdown since last week, allowing IT and IT-enabled services, among others, to operate with minimum staff, while the rest would still work from home. “To mitigate hardship to the public, select additional activities have been allowed, which will come into effect from 00:00 hours of April 23,” said Karnataka government’s Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar.
This does not mean life goes back to normal – the companies have to make all the preparatory arrangements to maintain social distancing in the offices. However, the insane traffic jams in Bengaluru city, since last Friday, tell us that people probably think that the danger of Covid-19 is already past.
We have no reliable data to tell us when the pandemic will end. The new normal of social distancing, masks, gloves and washing of our hands is here to stay. Even if all restrictions are lifted, until a vaccine is found, we have to remember that the virus is still among us.
If photographs from China showing huge crowds at all tourist places, as soon as the country lifted the lockdown, are any indication, it’s not going to be any different in India. There are news reports of a second wave of the coronavirus in China and lockdown measures have been put in place in many regions.
So, unless we continue to follow social distancing norms, we are going to see a spurt in cases in India. Do expect identification of hotspots to continue and cluster shutdowns. There will probably also be temperature sensors at public places and quarantine measures will be put in place if an infection is detected in a workplace. Middle seats won’t be sold in flights; every other seat will be empty in theatres – perhaps forcing the managements to hike ticket prices.
One good thing that may come out of lifting the lockdown partially is that migrant labour and house maids may be able to go back to work, but whether factory workers in the non-essential sectors would be able to go back soon is still an open question.
Lockdown lessons
When humans went into a lockdown, the earth quietly went about reclaiming itself. On the 50th anniversary of the World Earth Day on April 22 this year, the World Health Organisation Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Covid-19 is reminding us of a simple but vital truth: we are one species, sharing one planet.”
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