Strict Curfew to be a huge problem, in Sri Lanka

Cover image from www.hrw.org

This is an opinion, your opinion if different or same is respected, I am just taking part in the discussion process of this really bad pandemic that is taking place today in 2020.

We are about to pass 200 cases and 10 deaths, and doctors and nurses are working around the clock to prevent the mass spreading of these viruses in highly vulnerable areas such as Colombo & Gampaha to other districts.

With our correct safety measures and precautions taken the world praises us, but the citizens of Sri Lanka, all low/middle/high-income classes, are getting frustrated day by day with the never-ending curfew, much longer than last year's curfew amidst the Easter bombing and most probably longer than most curfew sessions during the 30-year civil war (please correct me if I am wrong :-) ). This is a strangle on not just every citizen, but to the workers that bring vital sources of income to the country. Examples would be those workers who got in buses and went home from a free trade zone in Katunayake, tea factory workers being laid off and so on. Yes, the situation is dire and I understand strong measures are the way to curb this pandemic, but at the cost of future economic loss? It was not like our economy is doing well before this? Yes, there was growth but that was just after two blows to the economy, the 2018 constitutional crisis & the 2019 Easter bombing, and this being our third the only exception being this is a global problem, not just at a national level.

Then Rashitha, so you suggest these people should work, well then, the coronavirus would spread among them isn't that so? Well, it's not like you can prepare for this, like disinfecting factory machinery, providing gloves and safety masks to workers, and checking workers when they come in or out and implement strict social distancing laws. Why this the problem? Because some countries are placing orders on garments(maybe not garments necessarily but why not convert it to a protective hazmat suit production or make gloves, some ideas there) to Sri Lanka, but since the factories are closed down, they will send these orders to countries like China who have got their economy back and running. (The same can be said for tea which is some people consume as an essential). Funny how China is starting to grow its economy, while the whole world suffers when the virus first came from here 🤔🤔.

Yes, you can evaluate that countries have locked down a lot of these sectors as nonessential and people are not purchasing them. But we not only have a pandemic to fix, but the problems are not over after the coronavirus spread grinds to a halt, with mounting debt, economic loss of time, money, people not having enough money. We are about to head to a bigger problem after this is all over (if we don't consider it a miracle).

#Opinion #Coronavirus #Fact #Economy #SriLanka #Covid19