Foreword

By the time I got to write this second report, a lot changed in the world. The Corona Virus outbreak that started from China had spread all over the world. The World Health Organization(WHO) declared the virus a pandemic and it changed the ways humanity was conducting their business, probably forever.

On a personal level, now I feel obliged to be more responsible in my approach from here onwards as the lines between fiction and facts are slowly fading. In a post COVID-19 world, if there is any, we as humans need to prioritize our environmental standpoints. Ignorance can no longer be bliss. I believe such eco-fictions that I am in process of creating would be taken more seriously than they were in PreCOVID-19 era. And hence it is of crucial importance for me to address the right issues in the right manner. Animal agriculture and trade has to be shunned immediately, if we expect to avoid the next pandemic, in my opinion.

I am approaching my story in form of a script that spans for ten episodes in the first part. I wish to finish the story in a three part webseries consisting of ten episodes each. The first part is the subject matter of this project. In my previous report I presented the research I did before writing the script. This report highlights the aspects of executing the story and its importance for us humans.

-Shrey Singh

COVID-19

On 11 March 2020, WHO declared Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic and reiterated the call for countries to take immediate actions and scale up response to treat, detect and reduce transmission to save people’s lives.

-World Health Organisation

COrona VIrus Disease-2019

COVID-19 is the name given to this pandemic that relates to COrona VIrus Disease 2019 by WHO. Wuhan wet market of China was the epicenter of the outbreak and was carrying 22 animal species on their menu including endangered species. Initial reports claim that Corona virus originated from Horseshoe bats and then jumped to an intermediate species, believed to be pangolin before jumping to humans who can transmit it within themselves that too exponentially.

It then travelled to European and middle eastern countries with Italy and Iran being the worst affected, as WHO failed to put travel restrictions on China in time.

A few countries were able to impose early lockdowns like India and the spread is comparatively lesser, but it is still inconclusive because of lesser number of tests being carried out by the Indian government.

At the moment, almost all nations are practicing lockdowns with the exception of USA, which is worst affected, surpassing all other countries. Currently, 21 out of 50 American states are under lockdown and their government is still focussing more on reviving the economy and less on preventing the spread. A lot of concerned and somewhat influential Americans voiced their concerns and are appealing to the public in their own capacity to practice self isolation and social distancing. These two terms have become the new trend of the majority of world population.

The relevance of all this information to my project is of prime importance. As the main plot of my story was that of animals obtaining evolution powers after a secret virus outbreak that did not affect humans but enabled other animals to speak, develop an opposable thumb, stand and walk on their hind legs (when they wish to)and most importantly to use technology.

A lot of concerned environmentalists had been warning of the upcoming catastrophe but no one could have predicted it happening in this manner and this early.