RRS

The COVID-19 pandemic knows no border. Neither does it discriminate among the people. It treats all equally – be they rich or poor, the powerful or layperson. It has imparted us a big lesson: health is far worthier than anything else.
The dreadful virus is raging all over the world, making our life tumultuous. Each day we hear shocking news about it. As the coronavirus strangles powerful figures in one part of world, it sends chills down the spine of people living in other corner, exposing human frailty and helplessness to the hilt.
Ironically, the deadly contagion refused to spare those who had projected themselves mightier than it. US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have been globally known for belittling the coronavirus pandemic but they finally contracted it and experienced its fatal fit.
These politicians have commonalities on scores of things. They represent a far-right politics and nurture a false sense of the invincibility of their system and country. But their ham-fisted approach led to tragic consequences for their people. Their nations imploded under the strain of virus ultimately.
Trump has caught the virus three days after he mocked his Democratic rival Joe Biden for wearing a face mask during their live election debate. He downplayed the virus from the start and refused to put on a mask. He called it a Democratic hoax and offered multiple fallacious arguments to distract the masses from the pandemic that killed over 214,611 Americans as of Monday.
One month before the presidential election, the US president is now fighting the COVID-19, a development that can lead election to cliff-hanger results.
Johnson and Bolsonaro were criticised for their flippant response to the pandemic. Johnson boasted of shaking hands ‘with everybody’ at a hospital with coronavirus patients. He never got tired of showing Churchillian bravado but such a swagger did not prevent him from getting infected with virus. On March 27, he was tested positive for virus and eventually admitted to the intensive care unit.
After being discharged from the hospital, he said he ‘owed his life’ to the National Health Service (NHS). Indeed, it was a satire of history, too. The NHS was a socialist project of Labour government in 1948 and the Conservatives had voted several times to thwart its creation. Last year, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn had accused the Tories of trying to privatise the NHS.
The Brazilian president also hit the headlines for repeatedly trivialising the pandemic. He attended rallies when the virus was spreading like bonfires. As he was diagnosed with the COVID-19 infection, he claimed that he was not worried about it. “My athlete’s background will help me recover from it,” he boasted. He removed his mask before the reporters and announced: “Just look at my face. I am well.”
It is good that Johnson and Bolsonaro defeated the lethal disease. But we have heard contradictory information about Trump’s health. His doctors said Trump is in good spirits.
To show that how he is fit and fine, Trump appeared outside the hospital on Sunday afternoon, waving to his supporters from a motorcade. Medics have slammed his ride as reckless adventurism for this could risk infecting those accompanying him inside the car. Despite all this tantrum, we wish him a speedy recovery.