Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio’s address to the people of Nagaland on March 23 seeking co-operation and support of each and every citizen of the state in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic is timely and pertinent. While stating that there is no confirmed case in Nagaland and there is “no reason to be complacent or to lower our guard,” he appealed the citizens to adhere to all the steps and preventive measures being taken by the state government.
Further noting that the medical department and all the health personnel have been working day in and day out in taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus, he assured that the state is “fully prepared for providing care and the requisite medical assistance to anyone in the event of any eventuality.”
“These are extraordinary times and we need to unite in order to face the challenge under a spirit of oneness,” he exhorted, not in a panic mood but to be “alert and cautious to ensure that we are not infected.”
Societies that stand together are more resilient in times of crisis, a group of human rights heads stated recently. "This is, above all, a human crisis that calls for solidarity," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said last week. Such solidarity is the need of the hour.
To ensure this, alongside medical action, governmental actions need to be guided by two important aspects, so far missing from the response.
The first aspect relates to the streamlining of information to the public in a coordinated and transparent manner. No doubt, the concerned authorities are combating a daunting task and the past few days has had been most challenging. At the same time, the public is inundated with a plethora of ‘official notifications,’ which at times are confusing, if not contradictory. As argued as Monday, the messaging has “all over the place in many ways” and in a “haphazard manner,” tilting more on directives, rather than information and awareness. The collateral damage has been own-self imposed restriction in many places, often bordering on panic, and lack of public cooperation.
While the Chief Minister’s address on March 23, to some extent, has streamlined the process, it needs to be supplemented with clear and coordinated messaging hereafter.
Apart from human lives, the world faces another big challenge - the loss of livelihood across the globe. Needless to say, many cohorts of the population in the state will be adversely affected by the ensuing lockdown in the coming days. Presumably, testing as well as adherence to laid down regulations would be more cohesive if economic assurance and social protection are in place. The apparent failure of partial lockdown, at least in commercial capital Dimapur on March 23, could be attributed to such concern. Unfortunately, no economic initiatives for the citizen are forthcoming for the state government so far. The response of the Kerala government could be a good learning curve.
In addition, as Orkan Okan, Kristine Sørensen and Melanie Messer recently argued in a recent article in The Conversation, in the current situation, well-informed individual behaviour is a key intervention alongside medical and governmental action. It is crucial that health authorities apply health literacy - the degree to which people can get, understand and use basic health information to make decisions - and provide information that is easy-to-understand, easy-to-access, and barrier-free.
Such an unprecedented crisis most importantly requires a well-informed as well as utmost public cooperation and assistance of the citizen to augment the government’s efforts.
The solidarity is not just with the government’s order but also with the fellow citizens and the vulnerable section of the society most affected by the crisis. As the crisis prolongs, there are numerous heart-warming incidents across the globe as citizens and governments join hands to fight the pandemic and humanity prevail. Are individuals, businesses and faith-based organisation ready to emulate such gestures ?
As the UN chief asserted: “We need solidarity, hope and the political will to see this crisis through together.”
