Published 09:00 IST, April 1st 2020
Snapdeal boss Kunal Bahl frustrated as China's wet markets reopen while world fights COVID
Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl had a frustrated response to news breaking that China had re-opened its now infamous 'wet markets' where Covid originated
Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl had a frustrated response to news breaking that China had re-opened its now infamous 'wet markets' which are touted as having served as the origin of the Coronavirus which has since gone on to grip the world.
Reacting on Twitter to news that the 'wet markets' - where 'perishable' animals and fish are sold for consumption - have once again opened in China though under watchful eyes of authorities, Bahl wrote "Incorrigible. What will it take for them to stop?" underscoring his response with a face-in-hands emoji.
China has been widely panned for its response to the Coronavirus outbreak on a number of fronts. On one hand it is summarily blamed by dint of being the source of the outbreak which has infected over 850,000 people around the world and killed about 40,000; and on the other, it has been accused of varying degrees of totalitarian action and inaction that exacerbated the pandemic and allowed it to grow to monstrous proportions in other geographies.
Finally, prevailing and traditional Chinese lifestyle habits and customs have also been blamed, including consumption habits that have long been criticised for putting entire species under threat. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has extended this threat to species worldwide, such as in the case of Rhinos which are butchered in Africa for their horns.
The Coronavirus outbreak had earlier been pinned down by the WHO to one such 'wet-market' in Wuhan, with a 'patient zero' recently being identified. The virus itself is said to have jumped from a bat - a species that is sold at such markets along with others such as dogs and even pangolins.
China, however, is now by far the farthest along in terms of the worst-hit countries, and is lifting various measures that it had taken up to control the spread, even flexing its economic and manufacturing muscles to undertake what has been described in some quarters as a 'global health colonisation', by exporting products that are required by countries to fight the Coronavirus. Unfortunately for just about everyone concerned, China's age-old 'quality' issues have again sprung up, with nations bulk returning masks and other PPE gear, deeming it ineffective.
Updated 09:00 IST, April 1st 2020