THE Greek myths were initially

propagated in an oral-poetic
tradition, most likely by Minoan and
Mycenaean singers, starting in the
18th century BC; eventually, the
myths of the heroes of the Trojan
War and its aftermath became part of
the oral tradition of Homer’s epic
poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Now comes a pandemic where a non-living
entity, a virus, has erupted out of nowhere
and annihilated almost four million souls
across the globe; living in an era of oral-
poetic (sermons and speeches) and social
m0edia (viral spread of facts) has
proliferated myths that may supersede the
absurdity of Greek mythology. A president
of the wealthiest nation suggested drinking
bleach and putting ultraviolet light into our
bodies to kill the virus; some folks claimed
there is no pandemic, others that it was an
act of government, not God. When asked or
required to wear a mask, many refused it as
a ‘feminine thing’; others denounced it as a
violation of personal liberty. And then came
the vaccines against Covid-19, and some
said it is forbidden because it contains
elements of foetal protein, others that the
vaccine would make you infertile. Some
went so far as to say that the vaccine will
enable the government to trace your
whereabouts because it instals an electronic
chip in your body.
Videos claiming that a vaccinated site on
your arm could illuminate a light bulb were
believed by many. Prominent
philanthropists were misquoted as
opposing the vaccine; a theory that anyone
who received the Covid vaccine would die
within two years was wrongly attributed to
a Nobel laureate. There were gods created
to ward off the virus, and one prime
minister asked people to bang pots and
pans on the streets (perhaps thinking it
would scare off the virus). Millions
complied. Many who were told not to attend
religious gatherings claimed they had divine
p
rotection. Some among them died.
A hundred years ago, a similar pandemic
was first detected in the US — the Spanish
flu; it killed 20 million to 100m people
worldwide when the total population was
1.8 billion (one per cent to 5pc of the world
population) as compared to about 3.8m
deaths in the current pandemic with a
population of 7.8bn (less than 0.05pc); we
fared so much better this time around.
What went right this time? The same social
media that spread myths about Covid-19,
helped educate people about prevention.
There was no vaccine in 1918. Without
prevention, we too could have ended up
with hundreds of millions of deaths. With
all these known facts, why is there so much
myth around Covid-19? Is it ignorance,
disbelief, or a conspiracy? We cannot stifle
the spread of legend, but we can certainly
present rational arguments for those who
have an open mind still uninfected by the
virus.
Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA
viruses that cause diseases in mammals and
birds. Mild illnesses in humans include
some cases of the common cold (which is
also caused by other viruses, predominantly
rhinoviruses), while more lethal varieties
can cause SARS, MERS, and Covid-19. In
cows and pigs, they cause diarrhoea, while
in mice, they cause hepatitis and
encephalomyelitis. The Covid-19-causing
virus was reportedly transferred from bats
to humans. However, the jury is still out.
President Biden recently ordered an inquiry
to find out whether the virus escaped from
the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology; or
worse, was it a manufactured creation (this
will make a good myth). Despite the
certification by the FDA, we are not sure of
the source of the virus — we may know soon
enough but that will be another theory, and
in all likelihood, we will never know the
answer. It does, however, teach us the
possibility of using viruses for biological
warfare — a scary scenario that should
awaken countries like Pakistan, where such
monitoring is not possible.
Viruses are not living entities; these are a
chemistry piece that existed long before the
earliest sign of life came to earth; we
harbour thousands of viruses in our body
that are friendly viruses, but the Covid-19
virus is not. It cannot survive outside a
living body and goes into our body cells and
teaches them to reproduce it; the body cells
follow the instructions until they get filled
up with the virus and burst open, causing
the virus to spread to other cells. It affects
the lungs as most coronaviruses do and
brings death by suffocation. Like any other
virus, it can be inactivated (not killed
because it is not alive) by just washing
hands or wiping surfaces. A virus cannot fly
in the air (it has no wings), so the only way
it can enter your body is through fine
droplets transmitted through an infected
person who sneezes or simply exhales. Now
we come to the mask; while it is not perfect
protection, you can significantly reduce the
risk of both contracting and transmitting
the infection. But wearing a mask is a
change in lifestyle that is not comfortable or
acceptable to many. Social distancing, a
new cliché designed in this pandemic, helps
but is not as good as a mask.
There are no medicines that can help you
once you are infected; only your body
immunity can handle this menace. Boosting
immunity through vaccination is the only
viable option. Just because a vaccine was
developed quickly does not make it less
safe. The fast testing of efficacy came
because of the rapid spread of Covid-19.
Any side effects eg blood clots are common
to many treatments, including the use of
birth control pills; we never follow these as
we did in vaccines for emergency use. All
vaccines are safe.
So, pay no attention to the myths
surrounding you; we have come a long way
from the era of Greek gods.
The w