Senior Congress leader Sirigireddy Gangi Reddy allegedly died by suicide by jumping in front of a train on Monday. The 55-year-old Vice-President of Kadapa District in Andhra Pradesh reportedly took this extreme step after contracting coronavirus. Sadly, this is not an isolated event of stigmatization of a global health crisis. In the month of June, a 56-year-old IRS officer had allegedly ended his life as he was scared of infecting his family with coronavirus. His test results had come negative. What do you make of these two unfortunate incidents? Let us tell you. It is not COVID-19 which killed them, it is the demonizing of the disease, which took their lives.

Coronavirus: The pandemic of stigma and shame

Ever since the outbreak, there have been increasing reports of people taking their own lives, either after testing positive for COVID-19 or due to the psychological trauma of being shunned by the society, even after recovering from the highly contagious disease. Eight months into the pandemic, we may not have a successful vaccine for coronavirus but we are certainly losing more lives to the pandemic of stigma and shame. Yes, the fear and panic surrounding the novel contagion is not only stopping people from reaching out to get timely treatment, but it is also exacerbating the suffering of COVID positive patients.
How deadly is the coronavirus?

In a bid to eradicate the stigma associated with coronavirus, it is important to be aware of the facts. For starters, while COVID-19 can cause severe sickness in people belonging to high-risk categories and those with a suppressed immune system, most infected patients (close to 80 per cent) recover from the disease without needing special treatment, as per the World Health Organization. To put it simply, it is a disease which can be managed with timely diagnosis and treatment. It should be noted that while the global estimated death rate of COVID-19 is 3.4 per cent, for some regions it is around .02 per cent.

The recovery rate of COVID, exceeds active cases by 3.5 times in India

According to recent reports, a total of 24,67,758 people have already recovered from COVID-19 in India till date, as per the data by the Union Health Ministry. What’s more, the recovery rate is 3.5 times more than the active cases in the nation. The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in India has risen to 76.30 per cent.

Coronavirus: How it compares to other diseases

According to the India TB Report 2020, India had recorded close to 24 lakh tuberculosis cases and over 79,144 fatalities in the year 2019 alone. These figures roughly translate to 20,000 deaths every three months in the country. A report by WHO further estimates that there is a huge gap between the estimated cases and the officially recorded cases of the bacterial infection in the country, citing a gap of 2.9 lakh cases last year itself.

It should be noted that even though there is an approved vaccine for TB and multiple treatment options, the case fatality rate (CFR) is shockingly higher for TB at around 15 per cent worldwide when compared to COVID-19 which is approximately 1.4 % to 3.4% as of now.

The data from WHO also highlights that close to 9.6 million people worldwide have estimated to have died due to cancer in the year 2018. This disease is the second leading cause of death globally after cardiovascular diseases.

When compared to other deadlier illnesses, emerging data trends are suggesting that coronavirus may be much more infectious than previously thought but less deadly at the same time. As we struggle to battle the coronavirus pandemic, we need to remember that scientists and medical experts are working at breakneck speed to develop an effective vaccine for the disease.

There is a difference between being aware and being scared

When you do your part in breaking harmful stereotypes pertaining to the disease, you actually help people to seek timely treatment and medical help, without the fear of getting ostracized for their illness. So, think before you mindlessly gossip, judge or outright reject someone who has battled the illness or is currently recovering.