Welcoming the latest relaxations for lockdown 4.0 announced on Sunday, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, in a long reflective note on his social media account, has said life can’t be lived for long in confinement and just as people are living with HIV virus that has no vaccine by bringing in behavioural changes, we need to learn to live with coronavirus too by bringing in attitudinal changes.
“What if the present coronavirus is going to stay with us for longer than expected as is being suggested by some experts and senior officials of the World Health Organisation? Adopting a new normal is the answer. HIV virus has been around for a long time without a vaccine and people are coping with it by changing habits,” Mr. Naidu wrote in a long piece on Facebook.
Mr. Naidu said the pandemic should be used as a course corrector: “Stacked with better tools to fight the epidemics than when the pestilence struck humanity earlier and empowered with gene editing, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data etc, man was seeking to play God.”
This outbreak, he said, had shaken the fundamentals of living by oneself and highlighted the need for living in harmony with nature and fellow humans. He observed that “The invisible microbe once again proved that life can change very quick. It brought into full play the uncertainty that can co-sail with life.”
Also read: Life will never be same for everyone, says Venkaiah Naidu
Mr. Naidu stressed that the corona challenge is more a civilisational issue than that of individual lives. He suggested a 12-point new normal of living during the “Corona Times,” including behavioural changes such as wearing a mask and maintaining physical distance and hygiene.
He has also stressed on the need to avoid prejudices against fellow citizens.
