During a live chat session on Instagram with Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli on April 1, the former England captain, Kevin Pieterson gave a glimpse of how life is in the United Kingdom, which has suffered more damage than India at the hands of the novel coronavirus.
https://twitter.com/amanraj208/status/1249992978740817921?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwComparing the preparedness of the United Kingdom as compared to India in tackling the pandemic, Pieterson had said: “At least in Delhi people were taking our temperature. Here in UK it has been very lackadaisical.” He recollected how when he reached Delhi on March 2, his temperature was checked and everything was checked at the airport before being allowed to leave for the hotel, which according to the cricketer is not being followed in his country.
Responding to Pieterson, Virat Kohli had praised the Indian government and the citizens for following the lockdown rules. He had expressed his grief over a section of people defying the guidelines of the 21-day lockdown in India which has been imposed to curb the rise of the novel coronavirus.
“Honestly our response has been quite good. Apart from few people who haven’t respected the guidelines.
“If you are looking to address a larger issue then there is this thing of unity that everyone should have. 80% of the people have followed the lockdown rules but the remaining 20% can cause big problems,” Kohli had said.
While India’s efforts to fight Coronavirus are being lauded both domestically and globally, there are these few woke liberals who have been sitting in the comforts of their drawing rooms doubting the merits of the decision India has been taking in tackling the pandemic. Everything, from India’s early handling of foreign travellers and airport protocols to testing strategies, ill-equipped healthcare workers, poor handling of migrant workers and meagre support for the industry, is being debated threadbare in such locked-down drawing rooms and overheated social media platforms.
However, for all such woke liberals who have been questioning India’s response to handling the coronavirus crisis, the former England cricket captain Kevin Pieterson’s revelation will surely be an eye-opener.
The death toll from coronavirus in the United Kingdom rose to 12,107. The British death toll is the fifth-highest globally and a senior scientific adviser to the government has said the country risks becoming the worst-hit in Europe. The total number of coronavirus cases have reached a staggering 93,873. India which is about 13 times bigger than the United Kingdom has recorded a total of 10,815 cases with 353 deaths.
Despite being the second-most populous country after China, India has taken extreme measures to avert catastrophe in the country. By extending the nationwide lockdown by another 19 days, India has mounted the largest attempted lockdown yet in the coronavirus crisis, ordering 1.3 billion people to stay at home for 40 days to prevent a public health disaster.