A personal narrative of my COVID-19 experience

[Rao Muhammad Urwah]

Dear All,

Covid-19 has remained the most notable calamity or disaster that has challenged the health ,economy and most importantly the well being of the people globally.Here I will like to share my personal experiences of the situation that the COVID-19 brought.

I was in Grade-12 when for the first time,I heard the news of a virus that originated from China’s city of Wuhan and attacked most of its population by creating respiratory and breathing problems there.When China imposed a lockdown for a very long period,the curiousity started rising.The virus had not entered Pakistan till that time as it had adopted effective measures by restricting the flights coming from China.But due to the poor handling of the issue of returning of almost 7000 Pakistani Irani pilgrims,it was confirmed that this virus had reached the country on 26th February,2019.Now the problem started getting worst on daily basis.The public in Pakistan was still not taking this issue very serious but when government imposed a complete lockdown for a long period ,people gained knowledge and started following the SOPs.

Due to extensive lockdown,I was facing great fear,anxiety and stress,panic and a sense of insecurity.I was avoiding getting out of my house and shaking hands with the people.There was some serious physical and psychological pressure because of no outdoor games,no gathering with the friends and I was missing the college life as well.I was continuously thinking that when will we get back to normal life.To overcome this situation,I started praying most of the time because Islam teaches us to face the problem with patience and it really proved very helpful.I was trying to get proper sleep,exercise daily at home and involve myself in productive activities like reading of informative books and novels.I started watching motivational videos and historical Turkish drama,‘Dirilis Ertugrul’.Due to this situation,I have grown as a person with high level of patience and learnt how to spend life in the time of any crisis and it has made me more mature and disciplined thus.

Well,an extraordinary incident that I faced in this situation was the uncertainty regarding the conduct of board exams.Mostly,people were talking about postponement or cancellation but I was preparing day and night for the exams and giving my hundred percent to the studies.Suddenly,the news of exam cancellation was announced.This news left me really disappointed because I was putting a lot of effort.But after some days,I realized that health is the most important thing in our life when one of my close relative passed away due to this virus.

Now,the biggest fear that I have for the future is that the situation might get worst in hospitals. Variant COVID-19 with its British and Indian variants is causing difficulty in production of medicine.Another concern is of economy.Almost 10% loss is expected in Pakistan in 2021 and no one knows that for how long will this continue.Online education will be creating more problems.Myths and doubts can trouble massive population in near future.Despite all these fears,I hope that this disease will vanish one day and people will open doors of kindness and understanding.A more accepting world community will progress by adopting more positive attitude towards one another and increase its assistance for all people having diverse backgrounds.

After the pandemic,good policies and effective strategies will be vital for economic and educational revival.I think it will be important to promote scientific literacy,nourish our educational sector as a common good and spend more financial budget on it.We must ensure that different learning platforms and programmes will be operating at acceptable levels of quality if a crisis arises again.We must focus on building and expanding innovation ecosystems and most importantly,by putting all political disputes aside,we must look for an international economic cooperation for a smooth revival of economy.

I’m hopeful that our infrastructure will get better by our good responsible attitude and we shall not face any such type of tragedy again in future.

Sincerely,

Rao Muhammad Urwah
003
Aero19-A