The Coronavirus, apart from its immediate threat to the community as a whole, has also thrown up a dangerous spin off in this country, with victims of the pandemic being demonized and coming in for rough treatment.
In these spaces, the other day, we commented as to why some of those who were in contact with the Brandix cluster were reluctant to submit themselves for the quarantine procedure, the reason being fears entertained of being shunned by society even though these may take on subtle forms.
Now though this hostility seems to have taken on an overt form with reports that employees of Brandix at all levels being at the receiving end of a severe social backlash ever since the detection of the first Coronavirus victim from their Minuwangoda garment factory on October 3.
A senior management figure of Brandix in a newspaper interview claimed that even buses transporting their employees to other factories were being stoned and Brandix teams were being blocked from entering villages when they went to offer relief to their employees in their homes. Buses and three wheelers too were refusing to take Brandix employees from other locations. He said their employees were going through “hell” the way society was treating them, for no fault of theirs.
This is a dangerous trend which could snowball if prompt action is not taken by the authorities to remedy the situation. Brandix employs a vast army of workers from all parts of the country in its factory complexes and their safety should be guaranteed. What is more, this will also stymie efforts of the authorities in getting contacts of the Brandix cluster from voluntarily submitting themselves for quarantine.
No such individual will stick his/her neck out if he/she is going to be at the receiving end of angry mobs who will not confine their attacks on the victims alone but also the family members and those who associated with them.
This state of affairs, if allowed to continue, will also bring to naught all efforts that are being taken to trace the origins of this wave of the infection. There is no knowing to what degree those contacts refusing to submit themselves for quarantine, due to fear of being ostracized by society, will spread the contagion. From the rising number of cases from all corners of the country with each passing day the pandemic certainly has taken on a runaway form. According to GMOA Assistant Secretary Dr. Naveen De Soysa there is a higher risk of COVID-19 being spread owing to the emergence of Corona clusters from among the society while Army Commander Lt. General Shavendra Silva opined that this week will be crucial since COVID-19 patients were reported from different parts of the country.
On Saturday alone 121 cases of COVID-19 positive cases were reported of which as many as 115 persons were close contacts of the Minuwangoda cluster. These apparently are those who were ferreted out by the Intelligence operatives now combing the country looking for the multi-tiered contacts of the Minuwangoda cluster. What of the others who had slipped through the dragnet? Will they be willing to submit themselves for quarantine after being informed of the hostile reception awaiting Brandix employees? The authorities owe it to afford protection to all Brandix employees beyond just a law and order perspective given that it is these employees who bring in the much needed foreign exchange to the country by their sweat and toil working under trying conditions.
The authorities should also not lose time in ascertaining how the virus sprung up after a near three month hiatus following the first outbreak. Doing so will go a long way in allaying suspicions now being centred on the entire Brandix family which now stands accused as the purveyors of the virus to the country.
The predicament affecting Brandix as a premier garment exporter no doubt will have its impact on the economy. It certainly will be some time before the Company will be able to emerge with a clean bill of health, literally speaking. If indeed it transpired that the original source of the virus was the Brandix factory employee, the Company certainly will have some explaining to do. This is amidst accusations that a group of Brandix workers who visited the company from India had failed to get themselves quarantined - an accusation that the Company continues to deny.
Even so the public wrath directed at the Brandix employees as a whole should not be used as a convenient tool by business rivals of the giant garment exporter to undermine its operations whatsoever. This fishing in troubled waters has been a common trait of vested interests even in the past. The economic situation is such that any disruption in the export sector for whatever reasons is bound to affect the country in a negative way. The importance of economic stability at a time of a crisis of this magnitude cannot be overemphasized.
