The COVID-19 or the coronavirus, is creating panic for a lot of people. Since it’s a new virus, no one has immunity against it, and there is no vaccine available in the market.

This is termed as “Novel” since scientists are not yet sure how it behaves. From whatever we know so far, it mostly spreads through droplets from the mouth and nose. So anyone affected can spread the virus while talking to a person next to him. The rate at which it spreads is much higher than normal cough and cold. The World Health Organization (WHO) marked the disease as a pandemic. The stock market across the globe has crashed. There are predictions for huge job losses. In India, the government has declared a lockdown from March 22. There are travel restrictions to India.

People are regularly monitoring the number of COVID-19 affected patients and the death toll. People are panic buying groceries and daily essentials.

There are instances where a particular section of people are being blamed for spreading the virus. But the disease doesn’t affect anyone seeing their caste, races, etc.

All these are creating fear among people. A lot of people are getting into depression getting stuck in their homes for such a long time.

This is a serious issue. People should be aware of the situation and should stay at home, and stop the spread of the virus.

Instead of taking a rational approach, people are getting influenced by one another and letting Social Media forwards dictate their behavior.

The government has taken a major step to lockdown the entire nation which is unprecedented in recent history. Schools are closed, sports events are canceled, vacations are canceled, marriages are getting canceled, family gatherings are rescheduled.

Though preventive actions have been taken to stop the spread, people are getting worried. This is completely new for us, nothing like this has happened in our lifetime.

Few good things about the situation:

• Researchers have found that people who have got the BCG vaccine (a vaccine used as a precaution for Tuberculosis) are less prone to the Coronavirus disease. And in India, it is mandatory to have this vaccine just after birth.
• The chances of spreading the virus are less in warmer places than in colder places.
• Rapid test kits will be available pretty soon, which can help diagnose the disease pretty quickly.
• Among the people who got affected, a lot of them are recovering pretty fast.
• The climate has improved a lot, which in turn has saved more lives than what Coronavirus has taken in the past few months.
• And most importantly a lot of scientists and researchers are working hard to find a cure for this.
• We will get over this pretty soon and get back to normal life.

We are going through a difficult situation and in a situation like this, we should keep ourselves calm. I am sharing a few things to keep yourself calm and not to be panic-driven.

• Keep yourself away from Social Media and the news-minute.
• Know the facts and figures. Don’t trust the Social Media forwards on this.
• Binge-watch movies and series, whenever you get time.
• Watch “Ramayan” and other old series that are getting telecasted in “Doordarshan” with your parents. This will remind them about the good old days when they grew up!
• Getting into a Video Call with your childhood friends group.
• Play some online games with your friends and families.
• It takes a few weeks to grow a new habit, why not use the home quarantine days to grow a new good habit. You can make it a habit to do what you always wanted to do.
• You can learn new things at this time and give a second chance to your hobbies.
• You should take the virus seriously and stay safe at home. But you should not panic.