No sign of the curve flattening : Get vaccinated!
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 10, 2021 -

The number is worrying. Deeply worrying.

July alone, and the month is just beginning, has added 6242 to the tally of the total infected cases in Manipur and this is a pretty big number when seen against the tally of 76,032 the count for which started on March 24, 2020 when Manipur registered her first ever positive case.

Save for the lull at the fag end of last year and the beginning of 2021, there has been no stopping the surge in the spread of the virus.

It has always been a daily count of above 500 and deaths in double figures and there is just no sign that the curve is flattening.

What is the way forward ? No easy answer here, for this is a battle against an invisible nemesis and the only armour against this invisible force is to follow the SOPs laid down by the World Health Organisation and the Indian Council of Medical Research and enforced by the respective State Governments.

In as much as the virus has spread amongst the general population, the question still remains whether the people have been faithfully following the restrictions imposed by the Government from time to time.

As stated many times here, another equally worrying point is the high positivity rate, with Manipur reporting above the 10 percent mark for the last many days.

In the last 40 days, or from June till July 9, there have only been 12 days when the State reported the positivity rate below the 10 percent mark and this should have been more than enough to ring out the message that not all Is have been dotted or the Ts crossed.

The Centre has already written to the State Government to check how religiously contact tracing is being followed, not to talk about how those in home isolation are being monitored.

The Sangai Express has already expressed its reservations on the home isolation model, and the reasons why many seem to prefer to opt for this, despite the fact that not all homesteads in Manipur are suited to keep the infected effectively isolated.

The Government seems to have come around to the idea that providing such basic things as food for inmates in the Covid Care Centres, is what the situation demands.

Once a daily necessity like food is taken care of at the centres, then chances of many more opting to stay at Covid Care Centres is a distinct possibility and the move of the Government, though late, should be acknowledged.

Other than sticking to the laid down protocols, it is also important for all the eligible people to come out of their homes and head for the vaccination centres.

The vaccine is one answer to counter the virus which is spreading at will and in some cases, killing people too.

This is where one wonders how some have been spreading unfounded information against the vaccine and this calls for the joint efforts of everyone to defeat such destructive elements.

Covid is not a joke for it does not end with the person who has been infected, for in between getting tested to confirm one's status, the possibility of spreading the virus to others is high, very high and this is what should not be lost on anyone.

Observe the SOPs, get vaccinated for these are the only ways to take the fight to the virus, else the pandemic will continue to exact a heavy toll.