When the world slowly relaxes the precautionary measures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we have learned to live with it, I was just thinking of the earlier days when we were literally panicked and locked down the world and locked up the infected! Twenty-eight days of quarantine, self-monitoring and living in absolute isolation!

Coronavirus, you had made our lives miserable and we suffered hell a lot irrespective of the nation we live in. We prayed, and then we muttered umpteen slogans against the virus. We wrote stories and poems. We experimented in the kitchen, refreshing our culinary skills and started seeing the sky through the windows. Loneliness was the order of the day…  

We stepped out with masks and even double masks! Deliberately forgot to shake hands with friends and the hug of warmth was not even in our imagination! The pandemic changed us and we learned the art of safe distancing, which was believed to be the best way to keep away from the virus and break the chain.

But the mutations upon mutations of the deadly virus continued as also the spread. But we changed the norms more leniently, though the spread continued. Yes, we were learning to live with it. Gone are those days when we shut the doors and remained indoors. We have learned to live in a world with the virus at the same time successfully fighting it. 

The threat posed by the virus, which disrupted the rhythm of the world for almost two years, is slowly coming down and we are all almost back to normal activities, of course with due care. I just recollected all this when I read about the relaxation in the rules by the government of India, especially for the expatriates, which came as a boon. 

For most of the expatriates who work in the Gulf countries including Oman, the main issues were the mandatory home quarantine while reaching home and the mandatory RT-PCR test before boarding the flight on their return trip. But the decision of the Indian government to revise its guidelines for international arrivals in the wake of an improvement in the pandemic crisis is great news because it eases the entire process and helps them spend quality time with the family.

Passengers who have a certificate of completing the full primary vaccination schedule need not mandatorily undergo the RT-PCR test while going back. Those who have not taken the complete vaccination will have to upload a negative RT-PCR test report within 72 hours before undertaking the journey, which is quite justified. The relaxed guidelines will be effective from February 14, and now there will not be the demarcation of ‘at-risk’ and other countries. What makes this a boon for the passengers is that it eases a lot of stigmas. 

For example, a family visiting their native place for around four weeks will have to pass through a lot of mental stress if they have to be on quarantine for a week even after testing negative. When a pandemic has no such geographic characteristic, there is no logic in such a restriction for the people coming from abroad alone. Also, just think of a man, who struggles hard in the Gulf, waiting for seven days after reaching his home physically with his family!

On the other hand, when a family going back to Gulf has to undergo the test again, and then undergo the quarantine rules in the respective countries also creates the same kind of trauma and also the financial burden.

In such a scenario, the more lenient decision of the Government of India would be welcomed by the world as a whole. Also, this is an indication that the world is coming to terms with the disease, and thus living a normal life. After all, the show must go on and the world has to move forward! coronavirus, you cannot dampen the spirit of life!