Its December 2019, the new traces of corona virus were seen in Wuhan, China. Everything was normal back then as the spread affected China and nearby countries only. Now it's late March into the 2020 and the disease has already been declared as global pandemic by WHO. The scale of confirmed cases and deaths are on rise everyday.
Majority of the countries have declared lock-down including Nepal which is affecting country's economy as well as there are majority of people are seeking for reverse migration as there are no jobs for poor people who merely afford to feed themselves on daily wages. The lock-down has resulted to pause in public transportation as well as private transportation which is affecting peasant class people to a great extend as they neither afford to live in cities without a job, nor they could leave for their village.
Shopping malls, cinemas, museums, libraries, gyms; naming the few among the large places are being completely closed. All the services(except emergency ones) are suspended until the further notice. The classes of schools, colleges and universities have been postponed as we are seeing the big gap in learning among the students.
Amidst the pandemic, the sports possibly had the biggest setback. All the sporting activities around the world has been stopped. Some activities were postponed, some were rescheduled and some are even cancelled. The Euro 2020 and Olympics have been rescheduled one year further. The top division football of all the countries in Europe has been postponed indefinitely including the Champions League. The FA has even decided to terminate all the football leagues below the third tier.
Talking about cricket, the entire cricket season is to be rescheduled due to the pandemic. The official decision of ICC has not came yet. There were speculations that the matches would continue on empty stands but that too was suspended as majority of the countries have gone under the complete lock-down. The 13th season of IPL; which is the most watched and most lucrative cricket league around the world is also on the verge of cancellation. For Nepal cricket, the news is not that good as well. ICC has announced all the matches of League 2 would be postponed. The bigger question over here is, Will the World T20 which is set to start on October this year would be shifted a year further? If so there would be literally no sports to watch out on this year.
Apart from sports, the virus is affecting the whole world's economy. USA, the so called superpower is down to it's knees unable to stop the spread. It has surpassed the world on terms of new cases.
Europe, considered the epicenter of human progress is now the epicenter of the disease. The UK's prime minister Boris Johnson became the first world leader to be affected by the disease which proved every person is equally vulnerable to the virus.
Its really disheartening to see the number of people who are affected by the virus. On the other side, it's also the unique opportunity to learn new things( especially soft skills). Self-isolation and physical distancing are the crucial things to avoid spread of virus. I hope you guys would apply the precautions and save the world and also don't forget to spend the quality time during the lock-down period. Stay safe and aware others too.
-Rohan Raj Mudvari