Around mid November and early December last year, everyone started to see snippets of news here and there about an unknown disease with flu-like symptoms that, specifically affecting the people of China and more specifically the city of Wuhan. It was in December, 2019 when China declared that there was an outbreak of a virus and that it was first of its kind. We didn’t understand the graveness of the situation back then. In came 2020, the cases of the disease were increasing and cases started to appear in India too. It was March 11, 2020 that literally made the world stop, when WHO declared that a disease called COVID-19 is spreading uncontrollably and from now on it is declared as a “global pandemic”.
Lives shifted all of a sudden for everyone, people working outside started coming back home, offices shut down, work from home declared, schools and colleges shut down and the world came to a standstill. The virus spread like a wildfire around the world. It didn’t leave out anybody, it didn’t differentiate. From world leaders to the people sleeping on the streets, many got affected and with it came many deaths. Probably the most painful phase was the death, not only for the patient, but for the ones treating them, their families and everyone. This year has been one horrific year and it will continue to remain so for years to come and in no way, one would want to see another outbreak like this.
When things were settling in, there came a lot of documentaries and movies that garnered attention from the people because some movies felt like it predicted the moments, while documentaries taught us and gave everyone an insight on what was happening around the world. Many other documentaries that were related to epidemics started gaining attention as people wanted to know what actually happens and at times like those, reading and watching are the only things that bought us solace.
It will be a year now and the world has been through a lot, here are some shows and films that helped people understand and some that left people baffled.
Contagion (Amazon Prime Video, Netflix)
One of the first movies that garnered attention and it was a sleeper hit released back in 2011. With an ensemble cast, this movie almost predicted the exact happenings of the year. Spread of the virus from an animal, started in China, global pandemic and even the symptoms were accurate. This shows the journey of how a team handles the disease, understands it and finds a vaccine for it after almost an entire year goes by, where people die, places get deserted and supplies start running out. Exactly like the situation that happened to everyone earlier this year for us.
Social Distance (Netflix)
This anthology series basically sums up our lives during the quarantine and lockdown. Connecting with each other via calls and texts and video calls. This emotional series will remind you of all those moments that occurred to you during those past months. 8 different stories, 8 different perspectives and beautiful emotions well put together by the people that created, “Orange Is the New Black”. This one should be watched by everyone no matter how the situation is right now.
Coronavirus Explained (Netflix)
A joint production by Netflix and Vox, this show digs deep into how the virus most presumably started, spread around the world and affected. It tells the viewpoints of various scientific dignitaries that explain how it ended up being a pandemic, what is that makes it different and what we need to fight it. A full on, educational and proper explanation to various questions of ours is answered in this limited docu-series.
Pandemic: How to Prevent An Outbreak (Netflix)
Released in January, 2020, this series though doesn’t talk about COVID-19, it does talk about flu and how a pandemic begins. It shows the rage of anti-vaxxers that started recently and various other factors that are related to outbreak of flu and flu like diseases, which has the highest chance of becoming a pandemic as normally flu is always treated as simple cough and cold. This series in general talks about the Influenza outbreak of 2019 and how it was dealt with.
Virus (Amazon Prime Video)
This is a Indian medical thriller that was based completely on real life incidents about the outbreak of Nipah virus, that started to engulf the state of Kerala, 2018. The movie follows how it entered the state and how it started becoming a widespread disease in the state. It portrays the valiant efforts of the medical teams and officials that helped contain the virus and also end it, even though it affected a lot of people.
Though some of these aren’t directly related to COVID-19, it will give you an insight on how precious lives are, not only ours but others too. This list will tell you to not only care for yourself but also for the people around us. Even though a very rough year is somehow being pulled under control we all still need to be safe out there and help the humans of the planet in any way possible.
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