communication BRIAN BASNAYAKE
COVID-19: PANIC AMIDST A 21ST CENTURY PANDEMIC
Zurich Main Railway Station at 20.00 hours, Thursday 19th March 2020
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ast cities and metropoles across Europe and North America have fallen silent day and night, and even towns and villages have to abide by the stern dictates of their central governments, forcing people to stay indoors. Hardly anyone ventures out even at daytime and, in any case, all restaurants and places of entertainment, as well as schools, universities, cultural venues, public amenities and most shops and offices, are closed for business. At night, although most of the lights and the colourful, digital advertising boards flash and blinker vibrantly through the night, the roads are eerily empty and the surroundings shrouded in ghostly silence. Devoid of all strollers, clubbers, night workers, and the incessant passage of vehicles moving in and out of lanes, streets and alleyways. However, pacing slowly up and down at street corners or standing still under arches are the dark and fearsome figures in combat dress, unambiguously observing the movement of the few passers-by. Those who have taken to the streets have a good reason to do so, and they mostly walk alone. If not, then never more than two people together. Every now and then a vehicle brandishing military livery cruises almost inaudibly, stopping at 50
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intervals to observe any movements on the ground and above. Lights on the top floors are invariably kept dim, and not a soul looks out of the windows, leave alone stand on any of the balconies. It is not the scene of an alien invasion or of urban warfare in a science fiction film, but a description of any number of cities across Western Europe with the approach of spring in the year 2020. It is a momentary scene somewhere in Europe, reminiscent of nations at war. It is an unprecedented event for Europe after WWII that has been precipitated by the public’s understandable fear of a tiny, microscopic enemy that moves imperceptibly and inaudibly from one human to another. As President Macron of France declared, the nation is at war – against an unconventional enemy. An enemy that has already caused havoc in China and parts of Asia; now it has come to Europe and America to wreak disaster and untold misery to their people. The spreading of the virulent disease will not end there: it is set to bring devastation to Africa, parts of Asia, and Latin America as well. One fears the cost to human lives will be most onerous in the poorer nations in those three continents in particular. www.inewsswiss.com
