A municipal worker disinfects the streets as a preventive measure against the spread of Covid-19 in downtown Dubai in March 2020. AFP
A municipal worker disinfects the streets as a preventive measure against the spread of Covid-19 in downtown Dubai in March 2020. AFP
A municipal worker disinfects the streets as a preventive measure against the spread of Covid-19 in downtown Dubai in March 2020. AFP
A municipal worker disinfects the streets as a preventive measure against the spread of Covid-19 in downtown Dubai in March 2020. AFP


A pandemic novel reminds us of difficult days behind us and today's complicated world


  • English
  • Arabic

March 15, 2024

If you were to reconnect with the person you were at the time Covid-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, would you have dared to believe that the world would be more complicated today than it was back then?

It is virtually impossible to argue that we live in easier times now, given the unceasing conflict in Gaza, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the October 7 attacks on Israel. The contours of conflict also run through Lebanon, where a Hamas commander was killed in the south of the country on Wednesday, and through Yemen, where the Houthis continue to attack and disrupt global shipping. Sudan’s warring parties flexed their muscles again this week. Further afield, the Ukraine war has entered its third year and Haiti has experienced a new round of violence. Conflict simmers and boils all around the world.

But, back then in March 2020, when World Health Organisation director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that his organisation was “deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity” and declared a pandemic, it felt that this was a moment in history that was without equal or precedent.

The collaborative novel Fourteen Days, published last month by Chatto and Windus, which is set over two weeks of the first period of the pandemic, provides persistent reminders of that period, of which the anniversary is upon us again.

It charts the experiences of a group of New Yorkers “left behind” in the city in the grandly named but thoroughly downtrodden Fernsby Arms, a tenement building that has survived long past its sell-by date. The volume is edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston, and features contributions from John Grisham, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Sylvia Day, Atwood and many more.

Fourteen Days is the story of neighbours in a rundown apartment building in New York City as the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis washed in.
Fourteen Days is the story of neighbours in a rundown apartment building in New York City as the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis washed in.
We may have clung to the idea that a short sharp shock was all that was needed before life returned to normal. It turned out to be a far longer journey

As the pandemic progresses, the building’s occupants gather on its roof each evening and the reader slowly slips back into the lingua franca of 2020 with its clapping for carers, the practice of deliberate social distancing and even the binge-watching of Netflix’s Tiger King, released just as the world was shutting down.

The book is, as a note at the beginning articulates, an attempt to “make sense of the senseless and bring order to disorder”. Critics have called it a mixed bag, as befits a multi-author effort, and an “enjoyable product of an unenjoyable time”. It’s both, but it’s also a time capsule and an aide memoire to the reader to recall their own pandemic experiences.

As a loose piece of historical fiction, Fourteen Days sent this reader back to what was happening in this country at that time. In the UAE, schools had been placed on early spring break recess at the beginning of March 2020 and public places were being gradually closed. The government announced the first of a series of economic stimulus packages in mid-March 2020. Response mechanisms were being mobilised by the hour.

There were less than 500 cases in the country at that point, but as the WHO’s Dr Tedros had said the week earlier about the direction the world was heading in, “we have rung the alarm bell loud and clear”. All passenger flights were halted to and from the UAE from March 25, 2020. The world was shutting down.

An all but empty Khalifa Park newsroom in Abu Dhabi, as the first mandatory shelter-in-place orders were about to be introduced, in March 2020. Nick March
An all but empty Khalifa Park newsroom in Abu Dhabi, as the first mandatory shelter-in-place orders were about to be introduced, in March 2020. Nick March

The last picture I have on my phone from an all but empty Khalifa Park newsroom in Abu Dhabi is a snatched frame taken on the same day as the first mandatory shelter-in-place orders were about to be introduced. There is an end-of-era feeling about the image. It would be months before we returned.

Returning to 2024, on the anniversary of the Wuhan lockdown in January, this newspaper asked whether we would ever see a return to similar-style measures? The unsigned leader that answered that question was written amid concerns about the existence of Disease X and following comments made by Dr Tedros about pandemic preparedness at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Our editorial concluded that “the 2020 Wuhan lockdown is a warning from history, and it is up to all of us to learn the lessons from those dark days”.

As the title of Fourteen Days hints at, back then we may have clung to the idea that a short sharp shock was all that was needed before life returned to normal. It turned out to be a far longer journey with far more bumps on the road than had been anticipated. Not many would ever argue the case for blanket lockdowns in the future.

The pandemic was not deemed to be “over” by the WHO until May last year. That was an announcement made without fanfare and will almost certainly be an anniversary that passes unnoticed in a few weeks from now.

That is how it should be. There is too much else to be concerned about in the world right now.

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

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Results:

6.30pm: Maiden | US$45,000 (Dirt) | 1,400 metres

Winner: Tabarak, Royston Ffrench (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer)

7.05pm: Handicap | $175,000 (Turf) | 3,200m

Winner: Dubhe, William Buick, Charlie Appleby

7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Group 3 | $250,000 (D) | 1,600m

Winner: Estihdaaf, Christophe Soumillon, Saeed bin Suroor

8.15pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,800m

Winner: Nordic Lights, William Buick, Charlie Appleby

8.50pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Group 2 | $450,000 (D) | 1,900m

Winner: North America, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar

9.25pm: Handicap | $175,000 (T) | 1,200m

Winner: Mazzini, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass

10pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,400m.

Winner: Mubtasim, William Buick, Charlie Appleby

The specs

Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder

Power: 220 and 280 horsepower

Torque: 350 and 360Nm

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT 

On sale: now

A%20MAN%20FROM%20MOTIHARI
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbdullah%20Khan%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPenguin%20Random%20House%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E304%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Five expert hiking tips
    Always check the weather forecast before setting off Make sure you have plenty of water Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon Wear appropriate clothing and footwear Take your litter home with you
THE SPECS

Engine: 3.6-litre V6

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 285bhp

Torque: 353Nm

Price: TBA

On sale: Q2, 2020

SPECS
%3Cp%3E%0D%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.0-litre%20twin-turbo%20V8%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20750hp%20at%207%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20800Nm%20at%205%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%207%20Speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETop%20speed%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20332kph%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012.2L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYear%20end%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh1%2C430%2C000%20(coupe)%3B%20From%20Dh1%2C566%2C000%20(Spider)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The past Palme d'Or winners

2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda

2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund

2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach

2015 DheepanJacques Audiard

2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan

2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux

2012 Amour, Michael Haneke

2011 The Tree of LifeTerrence Malick

2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul

2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke

2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet

The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X

Price, as tested: Dh84,000

Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo

Transmission: Six-speed auto

Power: 142hp at 4,900rpm

Torque: 200Nm at 1,850rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km

The five new places of worship

Church of South Indian Parish

St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch

St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch

St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais

Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais

 

The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Price: From Dh801,800
MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

Infiniti QX80 specs

Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6

Power: 450hp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000

Available: Now

Updated: March 17, 2024, 5:26 AM`