“Corona ” is in the media once again, precipitating a déjà -vu feeling and some amount of panic among the people. Among viruses and microorganisms King Corona and its descendents enjoy Royalty Status.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." This classic quote from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is well known. But does it hold well in current times? The events during the past five years challenge the Bard's view.
Wolfgang Wodarg, the German physician and politician, drew criticism from German scientists when he stated that the SARS-CoV-2 was similar to other existing corona viruses which are commoners and go undetected during the seasonal spikes of respiratory viral infections. He implied that giving a separate name to the new member of the corona virus family started the “tragedy of errors.”
Grapevine has it that King Corona did not evolve biologically, but in an occult laboratory. But the Royal courtiers, who conferred Royalty status on the new King of viruses, contested these rumors hotly.
This baptism of the new virus by giving it a name conferred Royalty status placing it head over shoulders among the other corona viruses causing the common cold. It became first among equals. King Corona acquired the reputation of being a cruel monarch and wherever it went it found deserted streets, schools and markets. Fearing slaughter people hid in their houses. They did not venture out or allowed their kids to play in the open or go to the park.
Wherever it travelled it met little resistance and in no time conquered all the continents. The rulers of most countries in these continents used the reputation of King Corona to advantage for controlling the masses. They decreed that all cover their faces while stepping out to avoid the wrath of King Corona. Only King Corona and its close allies, the world leaders, were allowed to bare their faces or hold public rallies.
The modus operandi of King Corona and its allies, practically all world governments, was using “Fear as the Key.” Towards this end, legend around King Corona, conveying to the frightened masses, that it can kill both the young and old, started emerging. And like all legends these exaggerated the true potential of King Corona. Like a cowardly warrior King Corona killed only the old and infirm and those with co-morbidities or those too slothful and obese as a consequence. It was no match for the young and healthy. Fear and panic forced all and sundry to stay indoors and parents forbade children to step out or attend school.
World governments declared war on King Corona and its armies, i.e. the thousands of its progenies. Many bidders to supply the arms and ammunition to fight the supposedly wicked King Corona and its descendents called “variants of concern” sprang overnight. These arms and ammunition were in the form of “The King’s New Vaccines,” “Testing Kits,” “Ventilators” and drugs like remdesivir. Some of the hastily developed arms and ammunition occasionally killed innocents due to collateral damage. But the war strategists brushed it aside as the “rarest of rare” events and said that people should be thankful that this is a tiny cost for saving the masses from the wrath of King Corona.
Over time, dynasties weaken. The latest progenies of King Corona, descendents of Omicron sub-dynasty JN.1 to be coronated and conferred Royal status are two weak entities LF.7 and NB.1.8; They have been granted sultanates in South Asian Viral Kingdoms of Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand. Like distant progenies of any dynasty they have become weaker than the commoners of the virus kingdom but because of their lineage they still enjoy the status of the Royalty.
To keep the fear of the Corona Dynasty alive, courtiers and advisors are holding high level meetings and drawing contingency plans in case it invades more territories. Once trumpet blowers (media) generate public panic, it would be easier to attract bidders to come forward and support the war against a potential invasion by engaging in contracts for arms and ammunition (vaccines and test-kits). Without fear there is no money to be made. The latest progenies (variants) may be far weaker, but they are still descendents of the Royalty, King Corona, the courtiers are whispering and the trumpet blowers (the media) are taking up the battle cry.
What is the way out of this “Dynastic Rule” of slavery of the masses? The world has to get out of the Mass Hysteria.” The obsession of the masses around King Corona and its dynastic domination needs to be addressed to restore the social and mental health of the population.
Lessons from the Bhagwad Gitad can help us in this endeavor. We have come to the present state through the three gunas – “Tamas, Rajas and Sattva,” described in Chapter 14, Verse 10 of the Bhagwad Gita. Tamas signifies darkness, destruction, and chaos which were prevalent in the early days of the pandemic. Nothing was known about King Corona resulting in mass casualties due to poor battle plans. This phase was followed by Rajas meaning passion (misdirected), action (often wrong), and confusion – mostly due to flip flops by World Health Organization, Centre for Disease Control and other institutions. Now is the time for moving to the third phase or Sattva which signifies goodness, constructive action and harmony – symbiotic relationship with the latest descendent of King Corona, Omicron. Live and let live.
The descendents, the subsequent variants of the original King Corona have adapted this principle of let and let live according to Darwin’s Law of adaptation. These adaptations are by way of mutations, natural phenomena, not new, due to errors during replication (transfer of the Royal armory). These losses of virulence (lethal weapons) adapt the weak descendents to successful parasitism beneficial to both the humans and the Royal Viruses. Only unarmed (non-lethal) royal descendents (viruses) spread far and wide while the armed (virulent) ones go down with the victim and do not spread.
Five years are like five centuries for the King Corona Dynasty and its descendents have become parasites residing peacefully with privy purses in the throats of the majority of humankind. Every day over 25,000 Indians die due to various causes out of which thousands may be carrying, coincidently, the benign and erstwhile “Royal Coronavirs” in their throats. If RT-PCR is carried out on all before death, daily we may have enough sensational numbers for the trumpet blowers (media) which can drive the public again into panic and rush for purchase of arms (vaccines), and cover their faces, suffocating themselves, with face masks.
In our obsession with Royalty among the viruses, the real bandits among the pathogens take a heavy toll of lives daily. Tuberculosis kills over 1400 young people daily, over 2000 children in India die from preventable causes, dengue, chikungunya, zika, scrub typhus, leptospirosis, typhoid, malaria and many others continue their frequent raids on our population. Recently, over 200 cases of the paralyzing Guillain Barre Syndrome, with 11 deaths, the largest number of cases in public health history occurred in Pune due to bacterial contamination of drinking water with Campylobacter jejuni, though other causes like Zika could not be ruled out.
Policy makers should note that these are our real enemies and not the benign King Corona or an imaginary future pandemic of “Royalty X.” But regrettably we are being drawn to sign a Treaty to fight the Royalties only, at the risk of surrendering our country’s autonomy to an unelected, undemocratic body like the WHO.
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*Dr Amitav Banerjee is a Clinical Epidemiologist presently Professor Emeritus, at DY Patil Medical College, Pune, India. He has over three decades of experience as a field epidemiologist in the Indian Armed Forces and at one time headed the Mobile Epidemic Team at AFMC Pune. He was ranked among the top 2% of scientists globally by Stanford University two years in a row, in 2023 and 2024. He has authored the book, Covid-19 Pandemic: A Third Eye
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