Columns

While Germany has gone to lockdown mode for a whole month with no grace granted for frohe Weihnachten, Lankans seem to have been immensely blessed with the freedom of the wild ass to spend the seasonal cheer wistfully dreaming of a White Christmas with every rising case of COVID blight they sight.

Though the COVID blitzkrieg have sent the Jerrys scurrying into their virus proof shelters at the first sound of alarm of another tsunami wave of coronavirus attacks, the intensified blitz in Lanka’s capital city has not deterred its stouthearted residents from venturing forth with only a face napkin as shield to meet head on the foe’s deadly coughs and sneeze, in a stand or fall bravado or do or die battle to keep the economic mill turning and the wolf from the door.

Rather risk a gasping COVID end than perish starved of bread seems to be the new certainty in town, the in vogue 2020 normalcy since the government stopped mollycoddling the spoilt masses and playing nanny any  further forty five days ago.

COLOMBO’S BRAVE FACE: Despite being Lanka’s COVID capital with over 13,000 confirmed cases, Colombo lights up to swing in the traditional seasonal festivities

Having lost its firm grip on the fast worsening situation which it had initially controlled admirably; and seen its much-vaunted veni, vidi, vici act traduced in the dust when COVID returned unfazed to knock on the nation’s unguarded door the second time around, the Government passed the parcel of blame to the people who were, en masse, charged with gross negligence and irresponsibility for allowing the monster plant its mortal kiss on unmasked lips in full embrace without protective gear  as specified in  the  government’s health guidelines bible.

The Government’s new strategy, effective from 5th November, has been to get rid of the lockdowns that were crippling the economic life of the nation and to tell the people to take their godforsaken lives into their own hands and brave the COVID gauntlet while travelling to work in a health guidelines bubble: though, how one of its precepts, the one about keeping one’s social distance at all times, can safely be observed while travelling to work in a bus sardine packed with fellow travellers due to bus shortages, has never been explained and still remains a mystery, known only to a few at the top making the rules.

But has the gamble paid off? Depends, of course, from which angle you are watching the unfolding scene.

From the humanitarian viewpoint that places human lives at the peak of priorities, the Government’s ‘open door’ policy for the masses to flirt with the virus everywhere they go and at every place they work has been an unmitigated disaster, especially in the metropolis. From the Brandix cluster that started the deluge and Peliyagoda tributaries that carried it to the coast and hinterland, the coronavirus has seeped into every district in the island.

The official statistics issued by the Government’s Chief Epidemiologist speak for itself.

• On October 4, the number of active COVID patients were 125 and 13 deaths. The number of confirmed cases upto then was 3,396.
• On November 5, the toll was 5,540 active cases with 24 total deaths. Number of confirmed cases 12,187. A rise of 8,791 within the month.
• One month later without curfews or lockdown except at a few isolated spots in Gampaha and Colombo districts, the number of active cases on December 5 were 6,339 with the death toll at 130. The number of confirmed cases was 26,559. An increase of 14,372 within a month.
• From December 5th to the 18th, the number of deaths rose to 160, an increase of 30 deaths in two weeks. The active cases on December 18 stood at 8,166.  The number of confirmed cases 35,387. An increase of 8,828 within two weeks. The death toll: 160.

Thus there has been no letup in the increasing number of coronavirus infected cases and deaths to signal that the Government’s policy of each one for oneself, masks for us all policy has in anyway paid off.

DAYASIRI: Batik Christmas

What the nation is witnessing today without an eyebrow raised is the daily stream of people getting infected rising by the hour with no effort taken to stem the tide; of people dying daily of the coronavirus with no questions asked whether it’s the lack of facilities that have hastened their end or the disease itself; and this scandalous state of affairs accepted with stoic calm and complacency as the new order of things in COVID times, tacitly embraced without qualm, without pang, without revolt.

The only issue that reveals this nation has a conscious is the raging debate on what happens to the Muslim dead if they perish due to COVID. Then questions are asked, pre-conceived notions challenged, health issues vehemently argued, feathers fly over whether the bodies should be cremated or buried or exported to the Maldives for burial there.

When will the Government devise a more imaginative scheme to thwart COVID’s present rampage countrywide or will the people be forced to meekly resign themselves to a fatalistic attitude that nothing can be done but pay the exacting tollage at COVID’s toll gate and pray Pfizer’s vaccine will reach our shores next year soonest? Or hope the remaining human stock will develop herd immunity if either Government or Pfizer fail to deliver the goods?

But until hope materialises, the Government has discovered that the rising numbers falling victim to the virus have created a massive shortage of hospital beds.

On Thursday, Army Commander Shavendra Silva said talks are underway to allow luxury hotels to accommodate Covid-19 infected persons in the near future. He said arrangements had been made under the directive of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and talks had first commenced to consider accommodating people who are reluctant to receive treatment from Government hospitals but still can afford to get treatment from private hospitals.

WIMAL: COVID a blessing

Moreover, the Army Chief said out of around 8,000 COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka at present, nearly 65% of them were not hospitalised and were at centres once used as quarantine centres. COVID Minister Sudharshani Fernandopulle, however, refuted claims of a bed shortage in hospitals and said there are enough of beds to accommodate COVID patients for now.

If humanitarians deplore the present evolving scenario with the Government not using tactical long term lockdowns especially in Colombo to stem the trend, then others applaud the government for daring to keep the economy alive.

True. Had the nation gone into lockdown mode for the second time this year then the chances are the already battered economy would have received a Tyson knockout blow which would have rendered it comatose; and reviving it from that moribund state would have called for nothing short of a miracle.

Take the gloomy news of the economy received on Wednesday to add to the litany of depressing items concerning it. The Department of Census and Statistics revealed Lanka’s economic growth had shrunk by a whopping 16.3 percent in the second quarter of this year, recording the largest-ever drop recorded in the country’s history. These were the times when the Western Province remained under a continuous curfew for over a month and many businesses were brought to their knees. The third quarter when life was limping back to normalcy recorded a positive 1.5 percent growth.

Another bout of negative growth would have resulted in the nation’s economic failure, which would have caused Fitch Ratings to downgrade Lanka further, having already downgraded Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating to ‘CCC’ from ‘B-’, three weeks ago.

This was further compounded last Friday when S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Sri Lanka to ‘CCC+’, from ‘B-’. S &P said its downgrade was due to rise in Lanka’s risks to debt servicing capacity and its economy forecast read the economy to contract sharply by 5.3% in 2020.  S&P Global Ratings downgraded the long- and short-term issuer credit ratings of Sri Lanka’s DFCC Bank PLC to CCC+/C from B-/B even as Fitch Ratings had downgraded the Bank of Ceylon’s Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings to ‘CCC’, from ‘B-’.

NIVARD: 2.5 Billion hopes

With such onslaughts on the nation’s economy and on two major banks, it is clear no responsible Government can afford to keep its work force idle at home due to a COVID threat but, considering the war situation on the economic front, send it to battle to keep the home fires burning, even though some may fall holding the Fort.

But though the seasonal cheer is dampened, and the Christmas spirit is dimmed, though all are in the corona gutter, some see the star of hope shine on Lanka.

Senior government Minister Wimal Weerawansa, street wise and politically savvy man about town who knows exactly what to do at the eleventh hour of a death fast, considers the COVID pandemic a blessing in disguise for Lanka, never mind that over 160 people have died from it and many more are expected to perish from it soon.

He says: “In a way the pandemic is a blessing in disguise for it helped promote local culture and its traditions. We have been told that 80 percent Sri Lankans do not show the symptoms of the virus infection and it is believed that the majority have not been infected. This is because almost all Sri Lankan mothers have breast-fed their children and almost all of us have the best immunity in the world. In addition, it is also believed that our food culture too has helped increase our immunity. It is because of the pandemic those values have come to light.”

And then there’s the Batik Minister, Dayasiri Jayasekera, ever on the lookout for new opportunities, finding one in the most extraordinary of all places: in the Cardinal’s wardrobe.

On Thursday, he expressed his desire to strip the Cardinal of his Italian designer made cassock and robe him in home spun scarlet to give a cardinal boost to the local handloom industry.

‘’I called on Cardinal Ranjith,’ the ambitious Minister said in a newspaper interview, ‘and was given the consent to produce the cassocks here in Sri Lanka. We are sure we can produce them to the international standards.’

And it’s not only the Cardinal he wishes to dress but all the Bishops as well though it may not be by Papal Appointment. And that’s not all. He plans to drape in batik all the liturgical costumes as well. According to him, the Cardinal had also agreed to hold the upcoming Christmas Mass adorned in liturgical costumes made from locally manufactured apparel. “So, this year’s state-sponsored Christmas mass is to be decorated in batik, handloom, and local crafts,” the Minister said.

That’s all very well. But God willing, let’s hope, he does not make a pig’s breakfast of the Archbishop’s regalia like his cardinal cock up in October, when his Sri Lankan flag done in batik and formally presented to the President as his ministry’s proud product, showed the lion brandishing the sword from the blade and not the handle. Ouch!

And then there is the former Governor of the Central Bank, now the nation’s Minister of Money, chartered accountant Nivard Cabraal, who seems to breathe, eat, drink, sleep, and dream in numbers the more digits the better.

On Wednesday, he dispelled all economic gloom in one stroke when he announced the good news that in spite of the coronavirus and the attendant negative factors that inhibit investment promise, ‘‘the government was confident that it could attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) worth US$ 2.5 billion next year.’’

According to Cabraal, ‘Well maintained favourable interest rates, stable exchange rate and a stream of investment projects in the pipeline are interconnected to enable growth. The investors will be excited to invest in Sri Lanka as they will feel much more comfortable when they see our stable, predictable set of macro conditions.’ Jolly for him.

Through the corona fog, it is heartwarmingly joyful to know that some have still not lost the child in them and still believe in Santa Clause.