How the world leaders are fighting the ‘war’
"To this day nobody's seen anything like what they were able to do during World War II. And now it's our time. We must sacrifice together because we are all in this together and we'll come through together. It's the invisible enemy."
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a unique situation. He is facing a challenge bigger than the challenges being faced by the other global leaders. He is committed to get his country out of the European Union by July. Right now he is supposed to focus on that commitment as he announced that he would not seek time extension for this job.
But the pandemic has changed his game plans. It has been an important part of his daily life for the last few days: holding media briefing every day to update the British citizens about his government's administrative and financial measures to fight the virus that had already caused the death of more than hundred people in UK.
Top health officials appearing with him in the press conference are giving health advisory and assuring people of mass testing in coming days.
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Johnson has to give daily briefing as his government's perceived slow response to tackling the virus attack has strongly been criticized, although the UK has universal health service system.
The situation in other side of the Atlantic Ocean is no different. President Donald Trump, who was strongly blasted for his administration's initial lackluster approach to contain the spread of virus, has now announced 'war' on virus.
He has assigned his VP Mike Pence to lead the brigade in the fight. Pence is holding regular media briefings to update US citizens about the government's measures to fight the virus.
Trump, who had earlier underestimated the magnitude of the deadly virus, is now is scrambling to mobilise his government resources to fight it.
He invoked war time sentiments in his speech. "To this day nobody's seen anything like what they were able to do during World War II," Trump said on Wednesday. "And now it's our time. We must sacrifice together because we are all in this together and we'll come through together. It's the invisible enemy."
But the measures came too late. Already the virus has spread to all states of the country. His administration is hobbled in conducting extensive tests for shortage of kits. The death toll at last count was 146.
The war appears bigger for Trump. His reelection bid now largely depends on handling the pandemic.
Canada led by Justin Trudeau keeps gearing up for the fight. He on Wednesday announces closure of US-Canada border for all non-essential travel.
He is addressing Canadians almost every day either on TV or social media updating them about his actions for them.
"As you cope with the COVID-19 situation, we're focused on helping you get through this," said the Canadian premier in his latest tweet.
Narendra Modi of India, a country feared to be the next hotspot of the virus, is closely monitoring the situation daily and at a high profile meeting on Wednesday discussed ways to further strengthen India's preparedness, including further enhancing testing facilities.
In an address to the nation tonight, he will unveil his government's measures to join the global fight against the pandemic.
All European leaders are now scrambling in the fight against the virus despite having some of the world's highest quality health service system.
Like Trump, France President Macron also termed the fight as war saying "We are at war."
France and other European countries affected by the virus are implementing unprecedented levels of restrictions.
Italy's leader is struggling to contain the virus although his country has world class health service system. The delayed response deteriorated the situation there.
In the virus test, Xi Jinping of China and Moon Jae-in of South Korea has succeeded in overcoming the hurdle by accomplishing a successful battle against the menace.
Their aggressive approaches such as mass testing to detect virus carriers and imposing harsher restrictions on people's movement has now become examples for others to follow in their fighting.
Now that the battle is on, there is no option but to win for the survival of humanity.
