Corona has taken
the World by storm and everywhere people are talking about it - WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the
media briefing on COVID-19 has caught the attention of whole World. He started saying - In the past two weeks,
the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the
number of affected countries has tripled. There are now more than 118,000 cases
in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives. Thousands more are
fighting for their lives in hospitals. In the days and weeks ahead, we expect
to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected
countries climb even higher. WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the
clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and
severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the
assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.
Pandemic
is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can
cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over,
leading to unnecessary suffering and death. Describing the situation as a
pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It
doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should
do.
Milan, Italy.
Daegu, South Korea. Qom, Iran. Many of the world’s largest coronavirus
outbreaks took root in and around well-travelled cities, but they have since
grown to encompass entire countries. Cases have spread across Italy’s north and
down to Rome, leading to a lockdown of the entire country. Iran’s capital,
where leaders dismissed the virus just two weeks ago, has seen thousands
infected. And cases continue to surge across Europe. The outbreaks are not all
heading in the same direction. South Korea has managed to slow growth of new
cases for now, through intensive testing and monitoring of infections. Italy,
Iran and the United States are still reporting large numbers of new cases every
day.
Official
case totals are an imperfect method of judging the world’s outbreaks. Every
country has more cases than it has been able to detect through lab tests. And a
shortage of testing kits in some countries, like Indonesia and the United
States, along with a lack of public disclosure in others, like Egypt, means
official reports are probably masking large outbreaks. Corona has had its
impact in Sports too.
Chadalavada
Anandha Sundhararaman Bhavani Devi, (CA
Bhavani Devi) is an Indian sabre fencer.
After the
early-morning announcement that spectators would not be admitted to the three
matches of this series - two in Sydney and one in Hobart next Friday - there
was a bizarre atmosphere across proceedings including the toss interviews being
conducted by Spidercam to avoid getting too close to players, followed by the
sight of international cricketers clambering into the stands to fetch the ball
having walked onto the arena in near silence.
Kane Richardson tested negative for COVID-19 after he was ruled out of
the first ODI against New Zealand at the SCG having reported reporting a mild
sore throat to Australia's medical team yesterday. Richardson, who returned
from South Africa earlier this week with the rest of the ODI squad, was
isolated from the rest of the squad while the tests results were awaited which
came through on Friday evening. At an empty SCG, with the impacts of
coronavirus growing by the minute, David Warner and Aaron Finch produced a
century opening stand before Australia lost their way against New Zealand's spinners,
leaving Marnus Labuschagne to nurse them to 258 as the immediate future of
sport in the country remained uncertain.
England's Test tour
against Sri Lanka is currently "planned to continue" in spite of the
growing threat of the the COVID-19 pandemic, but their home Test series against
West Indies in June, as well as the T20 Blast, is under threat, with both
events scheduled for a period that the UK government has identified as the
likely peak of the virus in the country. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed
at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that sporting fixtures will not be
banned with immediate effect, but said that such a move is under consideration,
which could wreak havoc with the English cricketing summer. England are
currently in Sri Lanka playing their final four-day warm-up match ahead of the
two-Test series, where the ECB are in regular contact with the Sri Lankan and
British High Commissions, in addition to Sri Lanka Cricket to address a
"highly evolving" situation.
Back home, the much
awaited IPL 2020 has been deferred until April 15 following the global concern
over the COVID-19 outbreak. The decision to postpone the tournament, which was
scheduled to start on March 29, was taken by the BCCI top brass lead by its
president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah and top management of the IPL
in the wake of the advice given by various arms of the Indian government.The
IPL sent the communication to all eight franchises on Friday, saying it would
meet the owners on Saturday in person in Mumbai to further debrief on the
matter. The BCCI confirmed the development through a media release stating it
was "suspending" the IPL until April 15 as a "precautionary
measure" against the coronavirus. "The BCCI is concerned and
sensitive about all its stakeholders, and public health in general, and it is
taking all necessary steps to ensure that, all people related to IPL including
fans have a safe cricketing experience," the release said. The IPL now
joins a host of high-profile sporting events including the UEFA Champions
League, the NBA and the ATP Tour to be affected by COVID-19.
With the outbreak
rapidly escalating across the globe the Indian government has placed severe
travel restrictions for people traveling in as well out of India. With the coronavirus
being highly contagious and spread through contact, the government said
sporting organisations would need to adhere to Health Ministry's guidelines to
avoid mass gatherings. It was earlier reported the possibility of the IPL being
a severely restricted tournament - with at least some part of it being played
to empty stands - because of the pandemic. There was also some talk that some foreign
participants could have trouble in travelling and might get excluded in the
early part of the tourney.
Fencer Bhavani Devi
has a different problem – right now she is in coronavirus-hit Italy. A few days
earlier, she was quoted as saying - “I don’t feel a big difference because of
the virus. But as a precaution, I don’t go to crowded places. I generally only
go to my training venue. I follow the hygiene instructions, clean my hands
often.” For months, the fencer has been
training there under coach Nicola Zanotti, something that she has carried on
doing even after the outbreak spread to the country. Italy now has the
second-highest number of coronavirus-related deaths after China and the
fourth-highest number of cases after China, South Korea and Iran.
But Bhavani has
waited too long for her day in the sun to pack up and return home. She’s too
close to her dream, months away from being the first Indian fencer ever to make
the Olympics. However, the Chennai
fencer said that the city that’s she’s based in — Livorno — is relatively
unaffected. “It has had only one case. Most of the cases are in the northern
part. Things are quite normal there,” she told Indian Express newspaper from
Greece, where she was participating in the World Cup.
Livorno may be
relatively unaffected, but Bhavani is still witnessing how the fear of the
virus is affecting the life of the people there. “The Italy government has
announced the closure of schools till March 15,” she said. “Kids below eight
cannot go for any training. In Livorno, only masks are not available. I have
only visited one medical shop, though. In supermarkets, the supplies are still
available. I heard that in the northern parts, supplies are a big problem.”
Bhavani still
trains every day, as do her fellow fencers at Zanotti’s academy. But both she
and her coach are keeping an eye on the progression of the virus and evaluating
their options. “It does not distract me. I and my coach Nicola are aware of the
situation. If anything prevents us from training here, we have the option of
going to a different country. So far, no athlete has skipped training because
of this, except for the kids. But we are training with only trainers and
athletes present. No other people are allowed to stay here. And no handshakes
are allowed.”
Whilst she pursues
her dream for Olympics, there are talks that the Tokyo Olympics itself might
get postponed too.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
13.3.2020.
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