FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Alexandre Moniz Barbosa
In 2018 a 100 years after the outbreak of the devastating Spanish Flu that killed more than 50 million people across the globe and infected over 500 million people, there were debates of whether the world was ready to face another pandemic should one arise. An article published in the Lancet very succintly admitted that no, the world was not prepared. It said, “We do not know what virus will cause the next pandemic, there is no way to rapidly develop and deploy an effective vaccine against a pandemic virus. Differences in quality of health systems hamper a prompt response, and surveillance data on influenza have major gaps.” The Lancet being a medical journal, not many would have even been aware of the debate and response. Yet, two years later, as the COVID-19 pandemic grips the world, all this rings true, and the world realises that it was not prepared for a virus that could destroy it.
At the time of writing, the number of cases worldwide were over 34 lakh, and the deaths had crossed the 2 lakh mark. In India itself the number of cases had crossed 36,000 and deaths are at over a thousand. This is less than five months after the virus was first identified. The numbers keep rising, escalating actually, as the infection spreads across the world, leaving just a few countries untouched. Gripped by the pandemic, almost the entire world is in some form of lockdown, a measure undertaken to break the spread of the virus.
Goa has somehow been spared to a certain extent. With seven positive cases, none of which are currently active, the State has managed to stave off the virus to a large extent. In this, was it lucky or was it because Goa took precautions early? That’s a debate that is still on, and difficult to bring to a logical conclusion at this point of time. It is too early in the pandemic to reach a verdic on this, as the cases in the rest of the country rise each day. Now, in the Green Zone, the State tomorrow will see a lot of relaxations of the lockdown, including public transport at 50 per cent of normal, though it still has to remain cautious.
It is, however, interesting to note the manner in which Goa reacted to the 1918 Spanish Flu. It is quite a revealing account, as many people died due to that epidemic in what was then still a Portuguese territory. To get a better idea of that epidemic, it is actully pertinent to read an extract from the book Health and Hygiene in Colonial Goa 1510-1961 by Fatima da Silva Gracias to understand just how unprepared we were today as we were in the past.
She writes, “The growth and movement of the population in Goa was greatly affected by influenza of 1918. This epidemic had spread worldwide. The first case of influenza in Goa was reported in 1917 in Bardez taluka. The outbreak did not attract any particular attention of the Government as cases in the early period were not fatal. Able-bodied workers suffered the most on account of influenza. The attack rate was high among the young, old and expectant mothers. Pregnant mothers who suffered of influenza either died, miscarried or delivered premature babies. The highest number of women who are reported to have miscarried due to influenza were in Quepem (80%) followed by Bardez (73%), Bicholim (25%) and Pernem 13%.
“Influenza was little known in Goa until 1918. There were few cases in the late nineteenth century. The disease, just like some other contagious diseases, was carried from British India. Three hundred Goans fled from Bombay to Goa, during this epidemic. It coincided with acute shortage of provisions. In Siolim (Bardez) eight to ten persons died daily. The inhabitants of this territory in panic would run away at the mere sight of a dead body being carried away. The Government did not implement immediate measures to control or prevent the spread of the disease. In October 1918 a notification was issued advising the sick to refrain from sneezing in public and to make use of handkerchief to cover their mouth.
“However, the miIitary commander at Sanguem opened a ward to treat the sick suffering from influenza. During this influenza free medicine was supplied to the poor at the Hospital Regimental. Taleigao the Adminis¬trator of Ilhas ordered the local pharmacy to supply free medicine to the poor. All funerals were to be held privately. Free machilas were provided to the two physicians in charge of epidemics. Influenza in epidemic form appeared again in 1959 all over Goa and rest of the continent.”
The statistics apart, while Goa till date has been spared from a major impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are other similarities that come to fore. It says that the colonial government did not ‘implement immediate measures to control or prevent the spread of the influenza’. We had it occur again in Goa, as while the rest of the world was cutting down public functions, Goa went ahead with the Shigmo parades in certain towns, leaving it to the local bodies to take a decision on cancelling them. Thankfully many did take the step of cancelling them. The government was even insistent that the zilla parishad elections be held in the midst of the pandemic, and postponed them only after the Centre stepped in. Further, the State has now made it compulsory for all to use masks in public places, including the work places, and this is similar to what the colonial government did 100 years ago – ‘advising the sick to refrain from sneezing in public and to make use of handkerchief to cover their mouth’.
Goa, like the rest of the world, was certainly not prepared to face a pandemic, as it has not learnt any lessons from the past. Yes, a 100 years is a long time, and one would expect that much would have changed, but apparently it did not. We are resorting to methods that proved efficacious a 100 years ago to battle the virus – namely staying home and covering our faces. Somehow, the progress that has been made in the past century has not prepared us with techniques to escape the virus. It has, however, imporved the treatment for the disease, for without the drugs and equipment, the deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic would have undoubtedly been far higher. As the world awaits a vaccine against the virus, it still remain in lockdown, with some relaxations announced in every country every few weeks. That is all that can be done at the moment.
