Exploring the Coronavirus Crisis
is absent. President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) virtual Summit, refloated the idea of the late, former president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez of setting up an international humanitarian fund for the purpose of distributing medical equipment and medicines among its member states (see “Coronavirus: Sanctions and Suffering” by Dr Chandra Muzaffar). Even more urgent is the economic impact of the necessary measures to combat and retard the spread of the virus. The lockdowns left the global poor unprotected. As in India, those without proper homes were left vulnerable to the virus, a painful situation made worse by economic pressures forcing many to walk hundreds of miles home to their villages of origin because the transport system was not operating. This tragedy was repeated in Indonesia, Thailand and even in Malaysia where a young man walked from the capital to his village in the east coast of the Peninsula, Kelantan. Economic rescue packages was a project common to all countries but in some this became opportunities for corruption, as in Malaysia. Dr Chandra Muzaffar intimated as much in his article, “Covid Crisis: Lifting People”. But in the US trillions of dollars passed by Congress as a rescue package was over a short time shown to be used to bail out big businesses without the necessary caveat of keeping employment intact as what was done in Germany. There was no doubting the need to keep companies reasonably healthy to prevent a sudden surge of unemployment and obviously public money should be used in such a way so as to propagate money velocity. However, this was not Washington’s main concern. Again, as in the 2008 rescue package, Wall Street took precedence over the High Street and only time will tell how severe the damage will be to the US economy. There are some predicting a future where the coronavirus is an inescapable presence, meaning without a vaccine the behavioural changes established during the pandemic will be retained. Cleanliness and social distancing will be the new normal. Masks are recommended to better stop transmissions. The immediate future must see the public focusing on defeating the spread of the coronavirus, if not its annihilation. In this new normal, others see the move to internet communication as coming into its own where emphasis on social distancing remains and mass gatherings forbidden. Dr Jaspal Kaur Sadhu Singh in her “The Evolution of Zoom as a Communication Platform during the Pandemic” observes the phenomenal rise of the Zoom application that has fitted the gap, almost neatly, enabling online meetings where physical meetings are out of the question. Large gatherings and mass assemblies are almost everywhere without exception pronounced illegal thus affecting religious congregation prayers. For Muslims the impact has been immense. Close to the hearts of all Muslims is the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, which was put on hold this year. Saudi Arabia closed her borders and only locals were able to perform the Hajj. In other largely Muslim countries the weekly Friday prayers were initially banned and later when lockdowns were lifted the congregation was limited to accommodate social distancing. And, too, affecting all Muslims was the terawih or congregational prayers of Ramadhan, the fasting month. Happening during lockdowns families were encouraged to perform these prayers at home. Some families Zoomed together. Of course, not everyone was happy. In fact, in Malaysia a regional assembly of Muslims at a mosque in the very early days of the lockdown left a trail of infections, as happened, too, in India. But as Professor Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi in his article, “Religion and Reason can go hand in hand/Searching for the Heart and Soul 5
