I am born and brought up in Nagpur. I completed my engineering from VNIT, Nagpur (2012 batch). I am a Vice President at Barclays in London, UK and was one of the youngest employees to become a VP at the age of 28. I have worked in Germany for Allianz before coming here. I am also a cricketer and have represented my school, college and company for the same. Also, continuing my family tradition, I have been involved in social work by providing money/essentials to the needy people.

When Covid-19 started to rapidly increase in various parts of the world (especially Europe) in March, all countries started to take measures to tackle this gruesome situation. It had become more of a WhatsApp world: watching 10-15 different kinds of videos daily. It mostly included police actions on people violating rules, how China is having a masterplan, celebration for health heroes, how India is doing so well when compared to European nations etc.

As I have been staying in UK and my parents are in India (who have recently recovered from Covid), I have had a good view on whats happening on both sides. I have penned down few of my observations below:

Lockdown Policy: It has been a bit similar on both sides with only essentials being open. However, one major difference being flights were operational in UK but completely closed in India. Lockdown imposition was done slightly late in UK according to few scientists and too early in India when peak wasn’t even near. The sad part in India was, even though strict lockdown measures were in place, cases were increasing and never went on decline. Due to serious repercussions of lockdown on economy, India lifted its restrictions even though cases were increasing at exponential rate. UK on the other hand lifted restrictions only after cases saw a constant decline.

Financial Aid: UK govt. launched a scheme, where every employee or businessman got 80% of their income (capped to £2500 per month) if their work was affected due to Covid. This ensured all kinds of employees from all professions were financially secured. There was no such provision in India, which even led to few deaths due to starving and suicides.

Daily Updates: There was a daily press conference held in UK where govt. gave updates on numbers, current/future plans and target dates. There were some serious questions asked on daily basis to the PM by the media houses, which ensured govt. was under constant pressure to deliver on their set targets. In India, PM mostly gave motivational messages, which didn’t titillate most of the people.

Testing: Most people count test based on actual numbers but should be actually considered based on per certain population. For e.g. India is carrying out 10 lakhs test daily (0.08% of population) whereas UK is carrying out 2 lakh tests per day which is (0.3% of population), tests are free in UK and that isn’t the case in India. My parents did around 7-8 tests, didn’t even get a bill for the same and only acceptable mode of payment was cash.

Also read: Tirupati Temple sits on 50-crore demonetised cash offerings as devotees still offer old notes

Hospitalization: As we all know the current situation in Nagpur, it was very difficult to get a good private hospital in Nagpur without contacts and a good initial deposit. This becomes a huge issue for > 90% population who cannot afford such things. There should be some strong voice of people in improving medical facilities at government hospitals so that people don’t differentiate much between these two facilities. In UK, hospitalization was reserved only for seriously ill patients and paracetamol, some vitamin tablets were the only prescribed drugs for home quarantined patients. All medical treatments are free in UK at NHS facilities, which are at par with private facilities.

Conclusion: Though it might look UK has done comparatively better, the Covid thing is such it can turn the tables within weeks for even strongest of countries. Considering the population issue in India, it’s even unfair to expect same kind of outcomes especially with this highly contagious virus. All we need to do from our side is follow the laid-out guidelines and take care of our family and friends. Also, help the needy wherever you can. 

(Views are personal)