It is a thriving business after the lockdown. The two barbers had attended to about 100 customers by 4pm. It will close at 9pm and customers are pouring in. 

The faded Druktrace App QR code has ceased to work. Two men try it. One informs the barber, but there are more heads and money to make. One informs a de-suup about the problem. Nobody knows what happened. But what is clear is five days after the complete relaxation of lockdown 2.0, we are letting the guards down. And if ever there is a case in the community, we will be back to square one or even worse.

Life has returned to the routine and activities of pre-December 20. Life has to go on. But going by the casualness that has already crept in, we have already forgotten that we had been under lockdown for 42 days. We can only pray that there is no case in the community.

The health ministry has started an aggressive testing programme. It is the right decision because all are behaving as if nothing had happened. The only reminders of the 42-day lockdown are the small green tents outside some building in the capital city. Soon it will be gone and there will be no reminder of the strict lockdown.

With offices, schools, sports facilities and business opening, life has returned to normal. Meetings are held, gatherings are happening and not many are remembering the protocols. The warnings are still clear. Even if we are not picking up cases from the community and seeing an impressive recovery rate, the risk is still out there. It takes just one case to return to locking down the whole country. 

 We have learnt it the hard way and we have forgotten it in five days. The protocols: wearing face masks, washing hands and using the trace apps are important. The request even as the relaxation was announced last week was to follow the protocol unless the pandemic situation is over or the whole population is inoculated with vaccines. It is there to see how many are following or not.

 It will be a long time before the whole population is vaccinated. There is a rush for the vaccines and experts are pointing out that poorer countries would be the last to receive it. We might have secured our share through diplomatic means, but we are not safe unless everybody is protected. Neighbouring India is manufacturing vaccines, but the sheer size of its population means it will take time to protect the whole population even with the vaccines available.

 The best bet still is following the protocols as we wait for the vaccines to arrive.