Herald View: The PM with the perfect mask and his message to the people on COVID

A large section of the Indian media this week complimented the Prime Minister for giving timely advice. In his seventh and the shortest address to the nation of them all on the pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was, as usual, quick to take credit for the relatively low number of cases and fatality in proportion to population. India is however not the only country to witness this phenomenon. Experts continue to be baffled by the low numbers reported from Africa and many other countries including Taiwan. The initial assumptions are that a relatively young population, exposure to germs and virus of all kinds, crowded living conditions and the weather might have induced a kind of immunity that people in Europe, the US and Brazil missed out on. Efficiency and better management are the other factors that have been cited in the case of Taiwan, South Korea and Vietnam. These are early days still and experts have been warning of a second wave.

The Prime Minister therefore reiterated that there is no reason for complacency and people should not let down their guard. He trotted out the usual advice of putting on masks, practise hand-hygiene and maintain physical distance. And he did not forget to reel off some impressive numbers, reassuring people that there were enough beds and enough ventilators etc. to treat them if the necessary arose. A large section of the Indian media hailed the address for giving timely advice. Most world leaders have been addressing concerns related to the pandemic on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Both the US President and the British Prime Minister have had to answer tough questions every week. None of them has been praised for doing their job. But Mr. Modi enjoys an advantage over them. He prefers a one-way communication and does not have to answer questions.

It is the timing of his address, more than what he said, that remains intriguing. After a flurry of televised addresses just before and after the lockdown in March, he had been content to allow others to do the talking. In earlier addresses he had prescribed banging pots and kettles for five minutes, lighting lamps for nine minutes, showering flower petals on hospitals to honour caregivers and advised people to follow the protocol issued by the Ayush ministry. While producers and practitioners of Ayurvedic medicines made hay, scientists and experts questioned the protocol.

The Indian Medical Association and others have been critical of the Government’s mishandling of the pandemic. They have questioned the lack of credible data and the encouragement given to unscientific cures like mud baths. The Indian Council of Medical Research succumbed to political pressure and issued a deadline for development of a vaccine before retracting. The Government failed to control prices of tests, beds and drugs in private hospitals. The efficacy of the contact tracing App, Arogya Setu, remains in doubt. In many parts of the country, beds and doctors continue to be in short supply. In some hospitals care givers have not been paid their salary for months. By all accounts the public health system has been inadequate. But the Government does not appear to have taken a single step to strengthen it. If there is one take away from the PM’s address, therefore, it is that people must take care of themselves and not look up to the Government. Could people taking care of themselves be the reason why numbers are falling?