Viral Manali Photos: Have We Already Forgotten The Tragedy That Was COVID-19 Second Wave?

Manali COVID-19 photos: This time, two months ago, India was peaking upwards towards 4,14,188 coronavirus cases, the highest spike during the deadly second wave that claimed lakhs of lives. The tragedy unfolding only seemed to be getting more nightmarish as hospitals ran out of beds, cylinders ran out of oxygen and people ran out of hope.

Fighting to save lives till their last breaths, hundreds of COVID-19 frontline warriors lost their own; the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has calculated this loss at 800 doctor deaths during the second wave. What's more, experts have already warned of an impending third wave soon.

Yet, here we are, with pictures of crowded markets allegedly from Manali, Himachal Pradesh going viral as travellers throng hill stations in a bid to get away from the rising mercury and pent up pandemic ennui. See below:

Pictures speak- No room in hospital to no room in hotels at Manali in some days. 😷#manali pic.twitter.com/uKkLFRyMW9

— Amarpreet Singh (@amarpreet_ka) July 4, 2021

SheThePeople could not independently verify the origin of the photos. 

Manali COVID-19 Photos: Are We Letting Our Guard Down?

The only photos more chilling than the ones purportedly surfacing from Manali were those of COVID-19 doctors, nurses, staff and other workers exhausted, running on last reserves of energy?

Have we forgotten this frontline worker's retelling of the agony, as mothers prayed to doctors to save their sick children's lives? Or this nurse's grim photo from the hospital, catching a moment of respite from the devastation she saw up close on the daily? The surge in pregnant mother deaths during second wave that left families torn? What about the desperate cries of help that flooded Twitter timelines as the last hope to save a loved one slowly slipping away?

If India's chalta hai attitude could be depicted visually, this would be it.

Pics from #Manali, where beds are running out in hotels. If we go on like this, soon there will be another episode of "No beds in Hospital" will hit the reality soon!

I know it's hard not to go out and all, but people this pandemic is a real nightmare. Please be responsible 🤦🏻‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/174HoHG48F

— 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧 (@suchisoundlover) July 4, 2021

By giving in to our whims for short getaways, are we not insulting the somber memory of the tragedy that occurred not too l0ng ago? With a majority of the country's population yet to be vaccinated, can we at all afford to let down our guard down on social distancing, masking and staying in? Are we so indifferent to health and safety that even the fearful foresight of a third wave cannot move us to squash the travel bug?

Views expressed are the author's own.

Suggested Reading:

Is Pfizer Vaccine Effective Against COVID-19 Delta Variant?

Are Children More Vulnerable To Third Wave Of COVID-19? Here's What Govt Said

&t=132s