From Chernobyl to the Coronavirus: The price of denial and lies

From Chernobyl to the Coronavirus: The Importance of Transparency and Good Governance

Coronavirus has been fueled by the initial denial and lies of Chinese officials and the situation invoke a metaphor - Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union.  These terrible incidents of Chernobyl and coronavirus do have similarities. These two situations are worsened by corruption, mismanagement and lack of transparency at the highest levels of the state.

In 1986, the nuclear explosion occurred in northern Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union but the communist government tried to hide information about the gravity of the disaster. The 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl exposed the failings of the Soviet system, which first attempted to suppress the incident’s real impact. The Chernobyl disaster accelerated Mikhail Gorbachev’s attempted reforms and is considered as a beginning to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The winter of 2020 was the starting point for an outbreak of a new disease known as Covid-19 and the virus has rapidly spread across China and abroad, killing people mostly old and children.

Li Wenliang, a whistleblower Chinese doctor in Wuhan shared the rise of a mysterious pneumonia-like illness on the famous messaging app ‘WeChat’. But he was silenced by the local authorities (police) for spreading rumours online after the post went viral. The hero doctor also died of COVID-19 later which prompted outrage in the country. At the time of treating patients in Wuhan, Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist contracted the virus.

Wuhan city mayor admitted later that the information on the virus wasn’t disclosed timely because he required authorization to reveal information in the time of an outbreak.

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The Impacts of Coronavirus in the World

The Impacts of Coronavirus around the Globe

China has become a global market and China can literarily produce anything that we think about. If you need cheap products, China is a better place for you to trade. It will be really difficult to find an alternative to china. You may not get any country that does not trade with China. Countries dependent on biggest trading partner China are likely to experience a shock in the near future.

Since China is affected by the coronavirus, the growth of China has now become at slowest in 3 decades. Moreover, many countries are also affected economically, socially and politically as big supply chains are being disrupted in the world. Here are the examples.

Economic Impacts

The recent outbreak of coronavirus hampers the construction of China-backed mega infrastructure projects across the world. Human resources including Chinese engineers and labourers of these projects have been banned from returning.

# Countries around the world cannot continue business with china as a result price of the essential products gets high.

# The price of oil decreases because some factories in China are temporarily shut and cannot run due to the blockage, restrictions and labours shortage.

# Business conferences and international exhibition have been postponed.

# Hotel and tourism business have been severely affected in china as people don’t visit their places and growing restriction in crowded places. Countries miss earnings from the spending of Chinese visitors.

For example, the revenue of Apple is expected to be lower as worldwide iPhone supply is ‘temporarily constrained’ because of coronavirus.

James Bond tour of China has also been postponed due to the epidemic.

Airlines like Qantas and Air France-KLM face losses because they have suspended flights connected with china.

Despite no cases of coronavirus in New York, Chinese restaurant in New York's Chinatown has zero customers.

Social Impacts

# People in China and it's neighbouring countries are panicked by the outbreak of a new coronavirus, COVID-19.

# Prejudice & racism: The ignorance and misinformation on virus invokes racism against ethnic Chinese or anyone in the US who looks Chinese.

# Education: student mobility has become limited in china. Chinese students cannot travel to foreign countries for higher education.

# Health: Huge loss has occurred due to the health and well-being concern.

Political Impacts

The Chinese government is now at a pressure politically and internationally. Since the authority could not take steps at the right time, Chinese people also showed anger to their government.

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International Students Education and Coronavirus

Coronavirus Outbreak in China & Outside China: Impacts on Foreign & Chinese Students’ Mobility 

Chinese Coronavirus hampers international study across the world. For the educational purposes, thousands of international students study and reside in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province of China. Due to the lockdown and restrictions in Wuhan, students from these colleges and universities face a shortage of foods and other important items necessary for their daily life.

Chinese authorities advised all to stay inside and avoid any contact with others to curb the spread of the deadly virus. Foreign students in the area are confined to student dormitories and trying to escape the coronavirus-hit city. International students have shown concerns and panicked. If this condition further deteriorates, the area will be a ghost town. Mohammad Samiul Ahsan, vice president of the Wuhan University International Students' Union is on-call nearly 24 hours a day and working to keep students and officers informed and calm their fears by dispelling rumours. Samiul is an international student from Bangladesh.

However, overseas students have to be extra careful as they may take the virus to their motherland. The USA and Japan started evacuating their people and other developed nations are also preparing for evacuations.

English proficiency exams (GRE, GMAT Test, TOEFL and IELTS) have been postponed in China and it will delay Chinese students’ studies abroad. Universities and colleges around the world are changing plans for new and returning Chinese students. In some cases, Chinese students who are already abroad have been recommended not to go home for holidays. Administrators of different universities have started to cancel exchange programs, conferences and sporting events in China. Moreover, some Chinese students from Wuhan are now unable to get to school in New Zealand. This Coronavirus forces many educational institutions to lower the enrollment of Chinese students. The virus changes the whole education system globally.

The governments and concern authorities around the globe should provide masks and other important items at a minimal price or freely to the hospitals and educational institutes to prevent the virus epidemic or eruption.

Further Reading: 

Corona-virus disrupting international study across the globe

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