China and India are Asia's most populous nations, but here is where the similarity ends. The two nations are poles apart in the way they handle the Covid 19 epidemic!

China, the first country in the world to be hit by this deadly virus, is also the first to control it through strict measures, including lockdowns at the early stage, mandatory wearing of facemasks, social distancing, temperature scans everywhere one goes, building a special hospital to treat the infected in just 10 days, etc etc!

The results are there for the world to see;  this Labor Day holiday season, the Chinese are out in the millions all over China, enjoying themselves, free of any fear of Covid 19.  Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, celebrated Labor Day with a music festival that drew thousands, while millions poured into Shanghai to shop, eat, have fun, and visit the famous Bund.  The same is repeated in many cities throughout China, with Covid 19 far from the mind of the Chinese, and rightly so, they had complied and lived with the strict measures imposed on them during the Covid 19 surge!  Credit must be given to the Government for its fast action to control the virus and bring life back to normal again, and for its constant vigilance against a resurgence from imported cases!

In marked contrast, India is struggling with Covid 19 and has lost the battle to the virus.  Millions of Indians have been infected and hundreds of thousands have died as a result of poor medical attention, lack of hospital beds, lack of oxygen cylinders, lack of vaccines and poor Government action on mask wearing and social distancing!  The dead lay outside hospitals because there were not enough beds to accomodate and treat them while they struggled to live.  The crematoriums are overloaded, with people having to cremate their loved ones on makeshift funeral pyres hastily set up all over the country, a sorry sight on television day in and day out! 

So desperate are the Indian people for oxygen cylinders for their sick relatives that many resorted to social media for help to no avail.  One lady even risked her health applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to keep her sick mother alive.  Her mother most likely did not survive such unscientific and risky procedure, but for sure, the daughter would have been infected by the sick mother!

How India ended up in such dire straits is a lesson in bad governance which nations should take note of.

Conversely, how China so quickly and effectively brought this deadly virus under control is a lesson other nations would do well to learn from!

One is the world's largest democracy, held up as a model for the rest of the world by its Western allies, while the other is the much maligned Communist State which the West find hard to accept!  It is obvious which of the two has delivered, and which has failed their people!!