Dhaka, March 4 (BNA) Markets are back in crowds. Traffic congestion on the roads. Migrant workers returned to the cities. Young people are back in schools and universities – many for the first time in years.
Things aren’t quite what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic — mask mandates still exist in some places — but with infections steadily declining, life in South Asia is returning to a sense of normalcy, the AP reports.
The mental scars from last year’s delta eruption still remain – particularly in India, where health systems have collapsed and millions have likely died – but high vaccination rates across the region, and hopefully the highly infectious omicron variant that has helped boost immunity gives people reasons to be like that. optimistic.
While experts agree that opening up was the right move amid declining case numbers, they caution that optimism must be tempered by lessons from the past two years.
Dr Jagandeep Kang, an infectious disease expert at the Christian Medical College in the southern Indian city of Vellore, said the government should start preparing now for the next medical emergency, “be it COVID-19 or something else”. She said new variants remain a concern, especially if the virus mutates into a more lethal version while retaining its infection.
Those fears were set aside in Nepal this week, as hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu for a festival of the Hindu deity Shiva.
“I had to wait for hours – since morning – and I was finally able to visit the temple,” said Keshav Dhakal, one of the pilgrims.
The pristine beaches of Sri Lanka are filled up again. Young people swing to the music and devour curry with friends. Some restrictions remain on the island – masks are mandatory in public – but the government hopes foreign tourists will return soon, helping to boost its faltering economy.
The island nation has been suffering from a severe shortage of hard currency during the pandemic, as authorities imposed restrictions on imports of cars and fertilizers. Now it is using its dwindling reserves to pay for the expensive oil needed to keep the economy going.
“I am happy that life is back,” said Ruan Chamara, a construction worker who says he has attended several concerts in recent weeks after nearly two years of living in an open prison.
The focus of the Indian government is also on economic renewal. Aside from the loss of human life, the pandemic has also made millions even poorer, including many who were among the most vulnerable. The strict lockdown, announced with a few hours’ notice in 2020, has forced thousands of people to return home to their villages from the cities where they work. These workers are now beginning to return to the cities, where activity has begun in factories and construction sites.
“Because of the lockdown, we have nothing. If we don’t work, we don’t eat. If we don’t eat, we die,” said Devendra Kumar, a young worker working on a construction site in New Delhi.
Kuldeep Singh Tomar, 38, who owns a shoe store in New Delhi, said sales increased from about $400 a day in January to double that in February. Before the pandemic, he said he was making more than $1,300 a day.
In Bangladesh too, people are cautiously taking off their masks while dealing with the fallout from the pandemic. Mir Arshad Hok, a former student at the University of Dhaka, said the virus itself now appears to many as a minor problem compared to others people face, such as inflation and job losses.
“In general, I think people have mentally distanced themselves from the coronavirus,” he said.
But no distance can completely erase the difficult memories of the past two years: overcrowded hospitals, overcrowded cemeteries, and weary doctors.
“The past two years have been unbearable for us,” said Habib Bashar, the former captain of the Bangladeshi cricket team.
“We certainly don’t want to go back to previous times,” he said.