How Individualistic versus Collectivistic Culture had an impact on the Government

handling the COVID crisis

John Doe (your name) Seneca College CUL286

Glen Choi
 The pandemic has caused an impact on almost all the countries around the world. There

is a stark difference in the way each country has coped with it using different measures. This

essay will focus on the cultural difference between two countries which are polar opposite with

respect to culture as individualistic and collectivistic in nature. The countries are New Zealand

and India. Many non-pharmacological measures have been undertaken by the governments in the

battle of COVID 19. They have used home quarantines, containment of the communities, social

isolation, social distancing and opting for other medications(Wilder-Smith and Freedman, 2020).

The contagion is controlled by limiting the interaction between the humans who are infected and

those who are not. This can be divided into three categories such as avoiding physical contact by

shifting work places to online meeting roosters and avoiding or closing the crowded places. This

is all aimed at breaking the chain of spread from an infected individual to a non infected

individual. Towards the start of a pandemic, when the prevention vaccine is inaccessible and

there is a restricted stock of antiviral medications, social separating is a huge measure to forestall

illness spread. By postponing the pinnacle of the pandemic, social separating shields the medical

care framework from being overpowered, in this manner empowering better consideration for

patients until an immunization or medication can be fabricated (Fong et al., 2020). Residents can

intentionally utilize social separating strategies on the off chance that they are educated about

them. Be that as it may, governments may likewise confine their versatility to contain the

pandemic (McGorty et al., 2007). Activities that might be forced by the public authority

incorporate shutting work environments, schools, spots of love, and places where groups amass

(McGorty et al., 2007). Streets might be shut down and travel limited. Insignificant movement in

spots like eating in eateries, visiting diversion settings, or rec centers might be controlled. While

the adequacy of administratively commanded social removing strategies requires the

collaboration of people, willful social separating is likewise huge in lessening human portability

during a pandemic (Courtemanche et al., 2020). People might be urged to assume liability,

intentionally abstain from social action, and stay at home. People confronting the danger of

contamination are displayed to roll out social improvements by changing their contact examples

to stay away from disease (Yan et al., 2020).

With respect to New Zealand, until the month of March 2020, their reaction to COVID‐

19 followed the current pandemic arrangement, which depended on a moderation approach for

overseeing pandemic influenza. The arrangement incorporates steps intended to moderate

passage of the pandemic, forestall introductory spread and afterward apply physical separating

measures logically to level the bend and try not to overpower wellbeing administrations. Since

pandemic flu can't be contained (besides by drastic actions, for example, all out line conclusion),

there was an assumption that case‐ and contact‐based the board would fall flat and the nation

would unavoidably advance to broad local area transmission of serious intense respiratory

disorder Covid 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). At the time NZ picked a system, the specific idea of this

reaction and its full avocation had not been explained. The wellbeing effect of an ineffectively

contained pandemic had been displayed utilizing a scope of scenarios, showing clear wellbeing

gains if a far and wide pandemic could be forestalled in NZ.

There was additionally a worry to try not to rehash the calamitous effect of past flu

pandemics on Māori and to secure adjoining Pacific Islands. The net monetary outcomes of this

methodology were questionable and incredibly hard to assess. An extra test was that both the

pandemic and its reaction were probably going to lopsidedly affect burdened populaces. While

an end system would have colossal monetary and social expenses, the other options

(concealment and relief) would in all likelihood have been undeniably more harmful in view of
the need to proceed exorbitant physical separating measures until an antibody or other mediation

opened up. A benefit of a fruitful system was that it's anything but a medium term leave for a re-

visitation of homegrown financial action without the imperatives of flowing SARS‐CoV‐2.

Neither moderation nor concealment give a firm leave system, especially given significant

vulnerabilities about Covid resistance and the potential for progressing pandemic transmission

for quite a long time to years under some scenarios. Likewise with all COVID‐19 procedures, a

definitive leave way will rely upon creating viable immunizations and therapeutics.

In India, at the outset, Covid cases in India occurred because of travel abroad as opposed

to transmission inside the country. The initial three contamination cases happened on 30th

January and third February in Kerala as they got back from Wuhan China. Inside a month after

the fact on the 3rd March, two additional cases were accounted for where one patient had a

movement history from Italy while the other in Hyderabad visited Dubai. On exactly the same

day, not many different cases were seen in Jaipur (Wasdani & Prasad, 2020). To control

this spread, the Service of Wellbeing and Family Government

Assistance (MoHFW) gave tourism warning limitations which were like

the past pandemics like SARS, Ebola, and bubonic plague, including

the burden of self-isolate rules for 14 days to all global explorers

entering the country. Moreover, travel visas were confined until

fifteenth April for different nations and on sixteenth March 2020,

MoHFW proposed different meditations, for example, social removing

of ≤ 1 m to keep away from/decline the rate and degree of illness

transmission locally which ultimately prompts diminishing in a

spread, grimness, and mortality because of the sickness. Clinical

offices and hospital care confronted crucial times in India. Under the

ordinary situation, accessible beds per 10,000 individuals were 3.2 for

rural and 11.9 for metropolitan, which needed to be increased to

oblige Coronavirus patients. Due to the bustling timetable for

Coronavirus cases, some disturbance and inconsistencies were

noticed for different medicines. Little challenges happened for

running the kids immunization program for tuberculosis, meningitis,

pneumonia, beating hack, lockjaw, hepatitis B, and diphtheria. For

grown-ups, interruption of kidney dialysis, chemotherapy

administrations were additionally seen. Tuberculosis (TB) actually

has the most elevated level of weight in India which by and large

happens because of hunger related with neediness. Lockdown cases

progressively affected the TB cases while they are additionally

powerless against Coronavirus contamination. By and by, to deal with

the Coronavirus cases, schools, lodgings, rail line train mentors,

were changed over into isolated offices while arenas were changed

over into disconnection wards. Disconnection, dread, vulnerability,

monetary strife is to be specific a couple of issues that can

extraordinarily cause mental misery among people because of

Coronavirus. In India neediness, starvation, hunger is as yet an issue

that will be heightened because of Coronavirus. Losing employment at

large is probably going to make dissatisfaction and drive individuals

to ongoing pressure, nervousness, gloom, liquor reliance, and self-

hurt (Chaple, 2020). In the 2008 monetary emergency, 10,000 "monetary suicides" cases were

accounted for across the US, Canada, and Europe, because of the monetary emergency. For a

country with the most elevated number of poor and malnourished, and people with wretchedness

and nervousness, India reported 1,34,516 suicides in 2018. Apparently on twelfth Feb 2020, a

50-year-elderly person determined to have a viral ailment had a consistent dread of getting

contaminated by Coronavirus and this drove him to end it all. From nineteenth Walk to second

May, 338 deaths were accounted for because of lockdown which incorporates suicides emerging

because of dread from self-seclusion, starvation, and monetary misery. Further, self destruction

cases were enlisted for the explanation of prohibiting liquor during the lockdown time frame.

Effect of lockdown on muscular specialists in India (611 muscular specialists from 140 urban

communities in India partook in this overview) was led and it was tracked down that 22.5% of

specialists confronted focused while 40.5% confronted gentle pressure. Further remaining at

home during the lockdown, caused poor actual work and unfortunate food propensities which

thus creates weight gain, diabetes and expands the danger of creating cardiovascular sickness.

Similarly some certain medical problems were additionally noticed (Malavika et al., 2021).

During the examination performed utilizing 100 enlisted patients from MV Clinic for Diabetes,

Diabetes Exploration Center, Chennai, it was seen that among 92% of the members who have

Type 2 diabetes, 80% of patients followed a standard way of life and controlled eating routine

during the lockdown time frame while 40% of the members were restless for Coronavirus

disease. Another likely certain side of the lockdown is individuals are currently remaining at

home and possess energy for family, which is just authentic with monetarily stable families.

It could be clearly seen that the government decisions and plans have been moderately

influenced by the culture that is prevalent in the countries. The death rates also correspond to the
collectivistic culture more in number than the country with the individualistic culture. The people

are accustomed to be socially away from one another. The rates of death due to isolation and

social distancing norms are less in a country like NZ than in India. The spread and coping has

also been a lot difficult for India because of the population at large and also the culture-wise lack

of boundaries.

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