The last time Europe saw a pandemic was in 1920 when influenza killed millions of people. Since then, dreadful diseases like the plague, ch...
The last time Europe saw a pandemic was in 1920 when influenza killed millions of people. Since then, dreadful diseases like the plague, cholera, small-pox continued to strike the Global South, while the North escaped them. The spread of these pestilences was accentuated by dense populations of large sizes, suffering from deprivation of various kinds, including in civic amenities, like water and sanitation – a general lack of what used to be described as “development”.
But Lady Corona – fellow feminists, please don’t object, the name of the virus does have a female ring to it – has decided to upturn this South-North characterisation.
It seems somewhat bizarre, if not difficult, to believe that it is developed countries that are being ravaged by the virus. Over 81,000 deaths have been reported from the United States, 32,000 deaths from the United Kingdom – and the toll continues to rise. How come? What are the factors that have made this happen?
Till she, Lady Corona, started attacking us in India, and with increasing numbers, I wondered if this virus somehow differentiated between populations, infecting white people, while sparing brown people, for instance. Is it related to immunity levels which are dependent on sanitation conditions?
Why was the virus...
