It’s not just a city, it’s an emotion. It’s, truly speaking, even more than an emotion- it’s a sentiment of life. Life as we know it- fast paced, hope-filled, rich with gladness and at the same time, sorrowful. And where it stands at the moment, then it seems New York is emoting this latter of human emotions: sorrow. For how else would you even put it?
For a city that is actually fondly addressed as the Big Apple, it seems that at the moment, New York has bitten into an apple that is sad and forlorn. With the coming up of the new COVID 19 variant with many of the world’s cities have, once again, shook to a state of another lockdown.
For instance, a few days back, when news finally broke that Germany had gone into a state of lockdown, enforcing a national level emergency, one understood that things weren’t in any way going good. And that was when the new virus variant hadn’t yet been found. And now, it’s time for New York, undoubtedly one of the world’s most prominent cities in all of its enduring history!
Meanwhile, inputs from a news report from Live Mint had the following to share:
A state of emergency has been declared in New York state on Friday due to a rise in Covid-19 cases in the state and the threat of the omicron variant. Though the variant hasn’t yet been detected in the state, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she decided to sign an executive order to allow the health department to limit non-essential, non-urgent procedures at hospitals and acquire critical supplies more quickly.
That being said, worry and concern, two common emotions on display where the governor of New York city Kathy Hochul stood translated into the following being told on the existing situation:
“We continue to see warning signs of spikes this upcoming winter, and while the new omicron variant has yet to be detected in New York state, it’s coming,” Hochul said.
Moving on, what’s important to know is that it’s not just New York alone that is feeling the heat of the moment given the detection of the new virus variant; several other cities of the world too have expressed concern. And it did not take long for the revered but of late, widely scrutinized World Health Organization (or the WHO) to categorize the Omnicron as a virus variant that is actually ‘concerning.’ God only knows what this ‘virus of concern’ may lead to, having first been traced to South Africa, its alleged source of origin, as they say.
It has now reached different parts of the globe, including Germany, Belgium among other nations. The new virus strain has a clinical name and it’s called B.1.1.529.
Also Read: The New Variant From South Africa Arrives In India!
And in that regard, the following is what WHO itself had to say on the subject:
“This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs. The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa.”
This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs. The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa