This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Sara Ahmad for European Sting a 3rd year medical student at University Medical and Dental College, Faisalabad, Pakistan. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writers and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a lot of myths and denial about Covid19’s existence. I would like to talk about my country Pakistan. As we’re facing the 3rd wave now and a lot of people have been COVID positive and many have lost a loved one. A lot of myths are busted now and pandemic denial is ending but according to UNICEF people have started to believe that the pandemic is already over.
Religious leaders also motivated people to follow all precautions. Many People have adapted to not shake hands and wash their hands properly but still, there’s a lot to learn and follow to end this pandemic. Unfortunately, we were unable to shut businesses for the sake of our economy but this lead to people not following standard operating procedures (SOP’s) in the malls and supermarkets.
People are becoming so used to the pandemic that they’ve started to neglect it. With schools and colleges being shut, students have started to visit their relatives’ houses. A lot of people wear masks only because entry is not allowed without them and pull that down afterwards, leaving them just hanging on their ears. A lot of people learned how to manage and treat their symptoms at home and when to go to a doctor.
Last year, people believed that the government is exaggerating Covid-19’s cases and deaths. But now, they’ve seen the hospitals reaching their maximum capacity and ventilators not being available, the myth just busted on its own. There was a strong misconception about heat killing the virus and the end of the pandemic in summer that just proved to be false with time. Another belief among the masses was children being protected from Covid’19. According to experts, the British variant of COVID-19 is spreading more among children.
At the start of the pandemic, out of fear or uncertainty, people started to hoard groceries and essential items in their houses. But now they’ve calmed down knowing that nothing is going anywhere and there’s not much need to stock up. It was believed that hydroxychloroquine, a drug used for the treatment of autoimmune disorders and malaria can prevent or treat COVID 19.
This resulted in the drug being vanished from the market. But now clinical trials have proved that hydroxychloroquine has no effect on illness or death from Covid-19. To end this pandemic once and for all we need to learn from our mistakes and start following instructions given by experts. We’ll need to believe in science to get out of this pandemic era.
About the author
This article was written exclusively by Ms. Sara Ahmad for European Sting. She is a student of 3rd year MBBS at University Medical and Dental College, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The views presented in this article belong to her based on her personal observation.
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