Serious concern

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed lives of  millions of people around the world and billions of people are still struggling for their lives from the deadliest virus.

Although the world has successfully produced the anti-coronavirus vaccine, it doesn’t mean that the coronavirus pandemic has been eradicated. The struggle against coronavirus still continues till everyone gets vaccinated in the world.

According to reports, Australian police clashed with hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters in Sydney and Melbourne on Saturday, while smaller groups of protesters were prevented from congregating in Sydney by a large contingent of riot police.

Officials reported a total of 886 infections, the highest ever single-day rise in COVID-19 cases, in New South Wales and Victoria states, with the vast bulk in Sydney. Mounted police used pepper spray in Melbourne to break up crowds surging toward police lines.  Meanwhile, another report said the police arrested hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday and seven officers were hospitalised as a result of clashes. A city of over 5 million people, Sydney has been in a strict lockdown for more than two months now, failing so far to contain an outbreak that has spread across internal borders.

More than 1,500 police officers were deployed on Sydney’s streets on Saturday, trains were ordered to bypass major city stations and rideshares were banned to the city centre as police tried to prevent an unauthorised anti-lockdown protest.

People have to realise that the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over completely. I am sure governments all over the world are doing their best to bring life back to normal, pre-COVID-19 pandemic times, but it will take time.

Instead of protesting against the government’s coronavirus policies, people should pay attention to their respective governments and follow all the standard operating procedures to cope with the difficult time the world is facing.

The victory against the coronavirus pandemic is guaranteed if all of us fight against the COVID-19 unitedly.  I hope people will strictly follow the standard operating procedures and avoid unnecessary protests against their governments.

Sami Shamsi
By email