Authors: Asad Ullah and Muhammad Hayat*
Very recently, China confronted a significant challenge, not because of the so-called Novel coronavirus but mostly because of Information Warfare. It’s distinct while reading some western media; they reflect that China is becoming a burial ground where people decease subsequently after every single minute, believing that thousands of people died and thousand are suffered. In the same vein, such information went viral on different social media networks – created massive fear worldwide.
People around the world looking at China with terrified eyes, some of the states suspended their flight and avoided their citizens from traveling to China. China indeed suspended some of the planes after negotiation with other countries only to prevent the spread of the virus, but it never means that all are disappearing here. Instead of spreading false information worldwide to increase information warfare, people around the world must appreciate China’s struggle in the current rampant disease.
It will be no exaggeration to say that in the current situation, people are running away from both Chinese as well as people who traveled to and from China. The question is, why western media, spreading such false information about the current virus while disregarding the noteworthy measures taken by the Chinese government. Western Media used the word “locked down” in the contemporary status quo in Wuhan, accentuating that most of the Chinese provinces and other big cities are locked down because of the noxious virus, While the Chinese government never used the word locked down; they instead used the word quarantine; it is clear that the two terms are sharply dissimilar and diverse. Besides the next thing I want to reference here is that why most of the people firmly admit as accurate almost everything that Western Media highlight?
Because of the media almost, every person in the world knows about the novel coronavirus (nC-2019). Typically any novel outbreak gets more attention than a common disease, and indeed it is a severe threat to health authorities. However, it could be more crucial if we redirect some of our latest hyper-vigilance towards flu, which is more deadly than the scary coronavirus. But then again, how much we understand about the flue that traumatized the United States?
In the comparative study, until now, the Wuhan coronavirus has killed 450 people and infected about 25000 people globally. The mortality of nC-2019 is (2.08%) much lower than other SARS and MERS with a mortality rate of 9.3 and 34%, respectively. By contrast, influenza that hit America alone has infected roughly 19 million people and killed more than 10000. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the 2019-20 flu season is nastiest in the last ten years, and will probably continue for several weeks.
Case in point, in 2009, when the H1N1 virus broke out in the United States, no one called it the American virus or Western virus. Nonetheless, the current coronavirus, when broke out in China, the western media called it China Virus or Virus Red Flag. When the H1N1 spread to the whole world which diseased millions of people worldwide, no one said anything about American people; nevertheless, when the novel coronavirus infected about 300 people externally, the Western media started to censured China as well as Chinese student abroad. When H1N1 infected almost 100,000 Chinese citizens and killed thousands of Chinese, no one painted the virus to call it different names.
Information warfare or acts of revenge, instead of sharing false information to spread chaos and panic, the media must appreciate the recent struggle of China. Pandemic diseases indeed are not very easy to control or develop vaccine at midnight to treat diseases and avoid spreading. The Chinese government has taken a severe step to control the outbreak of the virus. Apart from precautions and quarantine, in the fragile situation, the Chinese government build Wuhan’s Huoshenshan Hospital, one of the two makeshift hospitals dedicated to treating the patients infected with the coronavirus. The hospital covers an area of 34,000 square meters, which provides 1,000 beds.
Another hospital, Leishenshan, which is underway with the capacity of 1,500 beds, scheduled to be put into use on February 5 and take patients on February 6, the Chinese new agency CGTN reported. In such a short time, China is the only country that builds makeshifts for infected people. Through the gigantic struggles of both the Chinese government and the doctors who devoted all their time to overcome the outbreak, this will surely be overwhelmed.
Thus, in such circumstances, the world must come together to fight such diseases not only in China but all around the world. The discovery of vaccines indeed essential for future threats and the same epidemic. Humanity has nothing to do with power politics; the Western world must relief as a substitute for making it more complicated.
Besides, it is indeed more natural to understand, despite the fact of equating the above study.
*Muhammad Hayat. Ph.D., Student at Shandong University, Majoring Microbiology.
