In December 2019, an outbreak spread across Wuhan City in the province of Hubei, China. Philippines was one of the countries that was alerted and health officials are extremely surprised by how rapid the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been. It’s been one of the hottest topics across Philippine media and among Filipinos.

By March 16, the government initiated a Metro Manila Capital Lockdown to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. The capital now has restricted movements, people have been asked to stay at home and all non-essential industries are shutdown.

Given the situation at hand, is the pandemic really a cure for mother earth or a plague that hampers humanity? Either way, there are pros and cons.

Citizens were shocked and awed at the government’s response that has drastically impacted the majority of workers who earn on a daily basis.

Two days after the initial announcement of community quarantine in Metro Manila, the whole of Luzon was declared to be under lockdown or labeled as Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). This has shut down the country’s biggest and most populous island, crippling about 72% of the country’s 110 million population.

Also read: 4 preventive measures to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on your business

According to many, the government lacks concrete guidelines for its countrymen to follow—business is brought largely to a halt; not taking into account how much the impact will be from an economic point of view. Workers are adamant to air their ire over uncertainties.

Given the situation at hand, is the pandemic really a cure for mother earth or a plague that hampers humanity? Either way, there are pros and cons. For many, this is a war of humanity. As of now, the virus has no cure. Some speculate that it is a bio-warfare element that got out-of-hand. Fingers are pointed, yet China is taking all the hard blows. Italy is now an epicenter as declared by World Health Organization (WHO), and from this point, every person is considered a carrier.

On the other hand, can we believe this as a healing process for Mother Earth? Has nature pushed its “Reset Button” so it could heal on its own? Many testimonies were published, that after a long period of time, air index is down to a good quality of air for about or around 50% during the lockdown. A continuous visual of clear skies and a taste of ‘sweet’ air, according to people who live in the city are experiencing a different kind of atmosphere. I guess environmentalists will not have a difficult time explaining as to why we need to save the earth. Why we need to carefully consider planting more trees and preserving our resources, such as our rivers and seas.

I guess it will be up to the young generation to consider more of the outlook of what their future will be. For now, let us enjoy what beauty remains, and hope it will improve as time passes by.

Also read: An unprecedented challenge, also an opportunity for SMEs to do unprecedented things

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