Should Wuhan Take the Whole Blame for the Novel Corona Virus? By Ziqing Peng, 12 During this winter holiday, most of the Chinese like me are stuck at home because of the virus outbreak. We all know that Wuhan is the centre of virus outbreak places and the residents there are more likely to carry the virus. But does it mean that Wuhan is scary? Do we need to criticize all the Wuhan people as someone spread the virus? In my opinion, the answer is no. We all know the virus was first found in Wuhan and then spread all over the world, but this is not a reason for discrimination towards Wuhan and all of the Chinese people. First, think of the real cause of this virus outbreak. The bats brought this kind of virus to us as we took over too much land from nature and a lot of bats lost their homes. After losing their homes, they flew around to find new homes. During their migration, the virus inside them was spread to other wild animals and finally to humans. So, the real reason for this virus outbreak is that we didn’t have enough respect for nature. Think of ourselves wasting energy, damaging the grass… The real ‘criminal’ of this case is us, humans, but not only in Wuhan or China. Secondly, this is a kind of warning sign from the great nature. It took place in Wuhan, as Wuhan is densely populated. While the worldwide population is growing, the Earth is becoming more and more crowded. The virus outbreak is a kind of natural way to balance the lives between humans and animals and plants. It is towards all of us, but not one of us, not some of us. Last but not least, in this fateful hour on Earth, we should be united. We shouldn’t criticize each other, and we shouldn’t discriminate against those who come from Wuhan or China. We should stay strong together. Be united and fight the virus! Stay strong Wuhan! Stay strong China! And stay strong all the world! Ziqing Peng, 12 Nanjing, China
COVID-19
My experience of COVID-19, a bulletin from Switzerland by Vivaan Kartik, 11
My Experience of COVID-19 By Vivaan Kartik, 11 My back was hunched as I trudged down the path, I had all my school books stuffed in my school bag. My mind was exploding as I tried to grasp the full implications of the inevitable. Our school was closing down for five weeks, at least….. The COVID-19 originated in a wet market in Wuhan, China and this is not the first time that a virus has been transferred through a wet market. The first cases of COVID-19 came into existence in December 2019 when Chinese doctors treated many ‘pneumonia-like’ cases. Not long after Japan, South Korea and Thailand confirmed cases. On January 30th the WHO declared it as a ‘Global Health Emergency’. After that there was no stopping this new disease. The virus was wreaking havoc on public life. Soon what used to be huge and bustling cities turned into ‘ghost towns’ as officials imposed lock downs and stricter rules of social distancing. Schools, leisure activities, restaurants and offices were closed. Only necessities were spared. In a state of frenzy, people started overloading on soaps, staple foods, toilet rolls, etc. The supplies were exhausted and the shelves were wiped clean. COVID-19 is indeed an unprecedented crisis for humanity. As I look back, I had my share of disappointments too when school closure was announced. The prestigious math competition in Luxembourg in which I was to represent my school got cancelled and all of my year’s efforts seemed nullified. My birthday party got cancelled. The spring time was arriving and I hated to see all that lovely sunshine and our holiday plans to Greece lay waste. There are a few good things that happened too, like the global CO2 emissions plummeted. Now, with so much time on our hands we as a family are interacting way more than usual and are able to enjoy quality time with each other–more board games, more movie nights and the list is endless. Even as an individual I have got this time to unwind from a very tight schedule and the constant rush to get somewhere on time. The experience of online schooling was a totally new and exciting one for me. I felt very grown up. Newton discovered his first law of motion while he was hiding from the Black Death! No one expects us to make such a ground breaking discovery but I have used this time to develop new skills (badminton and cooking), gain knowledge on interesting subjects (Periodic Table and Forces), and hone my existing language skills (learning the Hindi script and enhancing my German vocabulary by reading the Harry Potter series in German). After all, an empty mind is a devil’s workshop. When Pandora opens the box hundreds of black and evil creatures fly out. But then, a white and lovely creature, Hope flutters out too. Hope, which will get us through these times of distress, and a time when the future is literally unknown. Vivaan Kartik, 11 Horgen, Switzerland
COVID-19: Experiences in Singapore by Thee Sim Ling, 13
COVID-19: Experiences in Singapore by Thee Sim Ling, 13 The first I had heard about it was that it came from a fish market. I didn’t make much of it then. I just thought it would be a great excuse to shut down schools. Not that e-learning (or Home-Based Learning, as we call it here) seemed like a fun prospect—I would have to spend an entire day staring at a computer screen with my ears crushed by bulky headphones. (Wait till you hear about my Physical Education classes.) Never did I guess that in two months’ time, the World Health Organization would label COVID-19 as a pandemic. When Singapore first received news about this, some people, including the government, became pretty worried. We’re a tiny, tiny city-state—5 million people packed into 721 square kilometers—so a coronavirus would find it a piece of cake to rampage through our country. We are pretty close to China, and a lot of Chinese tourists come here. Plus, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) had hurt our country pretty badly, and every grown-up shudders when they recall that horrific time. Although the majority of our population is ethnically Chinese, you may be surprised to find out there is some anti-China sentiment around here. Some of us started to avoid tourists from China, or anybody who was speaking in a Mainland China accent. We also started to avoid anybody from one of the big “clusters”: members of a church that had several cases of COVID-19 were ostracised at public spaces and their workplaces. We even started acting hostile to healthcare workers, the very people fighting this virus every day. It brought back bad memories about SARS, where such a thing also happened. (During that period, a nurse had written on social media about her neighbors closing their windows whenever she returned home for fear of “catching the virus”.) However, we’ve started to realize such behavior is wrong. Our family, our teachers, and the commentaries in the newspaper keep telling us this: the virus doesn’t discriminate. Anybody can get it. Anybody can spread it. Most of us have been spurred to be kinder in these tough times. Placing hand sanitizers in the elevator of your apartment block; giving out free durians (yes, durians) to healthcare workers; celebrities coming together to sing songs of support and asking people to stay at home. I’ve also written notes for healthcare workers at a local hospital and for the Singapore art community (after the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2020 was placed on hiatus). We also started becoming more panicky. Nowadays the newspapers aren’t filled with stories about the Hong Kong democracy protests (like last year); instead, COVID-19 is dominating the headlines. We don’t use our fingers to press lift buttons anymore; we use our fingernails, our pens, our keys, anything that is not covered by the biggest organ of our body: our skin. Then, on one particular Friday, a bombshell was dropped: schools and offices will close, and a one-month circuit breaker would begin. No more playdates, no more ball sports, no more library visits. Just one-month of social isolation (and being locked up in a house with your family). I have mixed feelings about this circuit breaker (and HBL). For one, I can’t chat with my friends face-to-face, only through ungrammatical texts on my phone. It also means I have to exercise along to songs like Dance Monkey while my parents stare and try to hold back their laughter. Plus, with the whole country on the Internet, technical problems abound. Just this morning, my computer froze, and it took fifteen minutes to get it back online in time for lessons. But I guess HBL has its advantages too. It forces us to carry out more self-learning and take initiative for our own learning. (Okay, maybe I stole that quote from one of my teachers…) However, with the stuck-at-home situation, we have more time to carry out our hobbies, like reading that book you’ve been dying to read, or (like me) carving out more time to write, because that luxury is not available on a hectic school day. We have more time to do a proper clean-up of our house, and spend time with our family, such as having a proper dinner together (with no mobile devices in sight). COVID-19. To think that the first I had heard about it was that it came from a fish market. Thee Sim Ling, 13 Singapore
