Night Curfew is a term which has become synonymous with Covid-19. Whenever there is a rise in cases of corona all states one by one start imposing their own deadlines. But the irony is this that these politicians when stages a rally of thousands forgets the presence of the pandemic. On one hand these politicians keep reminding us that we have to stay vigilant to stay protected but they are the ones who sets the opposite example in real life. Moreover there is no significant scientific data to show that night curfew can cut down the spread of infection. It seems more like joining a bandwagon rather than a step for precaution taken by these political parties.
Night Curfew: How Much It Can Help In Preventing Spread Of Covid-19
Several States have recently announced the night curfews and latest to join is the Capital City. Delhi from today onward imposes the night curfew as it faces the maximum number of Omicron variant at 142. The curfew timings are 10 pm to 5 pm in the capital. Similarly states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh too has imposed night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am. These curfew comes with relaxation on essential and medical services. But in day time especially in election rallies, festive celebrations, malls, beaches, markets etc have people in enormous numbers.
In the past year 2020, During May – August night curfew duration was slowly decreased while unlocking the nation. Sadly during this period the cases were multiplying like a minute in a mile. Between May to July the cases multiplied 16 times under the night curfew [95,698 to 16.3 lakh]. Despite of having a proper data showing no relationship between the night curfew and spread of corona, still such implementations comes into play by the political parties.
Why Is Not Recommended:
Night curfew have many cons if we dissect the effect. Firstly, it interferes the economic functioning of industries like hotels, cafes , restaurants etc. Secondly, it put more pressure on the functioning of public places as more and more people move out in day. This leads to overcrowding of places and thus maintaining social distancing become more difficult. Thirdly, no data can prove that night curfew lower downs the rate of spread of the corona infection. Also international flights which leads to the influx of new variant Omicron are still fully operational.
Despite having all these drawbacks of night curfews why the political parties put it in use. The answer is clear this is used as a ornament in the fight against corona. To show people that we are serious about the public yet they continue to gather these same people in huge crowd to vote for them. At that point of time all political parties just remember us as a number. Bigger the number in a rally bigger the chances of winning the polls. At the end as a citizen its our duty to adhere to the rules which are laid down by the government state or center. Vaccination and wearing mask are still main tools to protect us.