India's worrying upward trend : My safety, your safety
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 07 2020 -

The rapidly escalating trend is deeply worrying.

Add the fact that Unlock 1 is now on with shopping malls and restaurants set to re-open and the upward climb will be speedier.

Back on May 29, the country's tally of infected people stood at 1.65 lakh and in just 8 days that figure has ballooned to 2,36,657 and is still climbing to occupy the 6th spot on the world table.

India is number 1 in Asia and number 6 in the world and this is not a comforting figure at all.

If the trend continues, then, India seems poised to overtake the United Kingdom which has a tally of 2,76,294 cases in a matter of days.

The death toll is worrying at 6,642 which saw a record increase of 294 deaths as at 8 am of June 6, which has surpassed China's total of 4,634 deaths.

No indication that this upward curve will flatten in the coming days and this is all that more worrying given the fact that India is slowly and gradually opening up.

A grim scenario by any stretch of the imagination and the situation can only get more grim if India overtakes Russia, which has also seen an upward curve in the last few days with the total tally of infected put at 4,67,673 and deaths at 5,725.

Other than the lockdown and preventive measures spelt out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the world still does not have an answer on how to stop the rapid surge of the virus that causes COVID-19 and in a country like India, where the population density is extremely high, the situation indeed looks grim.

While the United Kingdom has 279 people per square kilometre and Russia a mere 8.53 people per square kilometre, India is way above with 325 people per square kilometre.

This figure itself should tell the story of how difficult it would be to effectively enforce social or physical distancing as propounded by WHO and ICMR.

The rapid spread of the virus across the country also means that it has also been spreading across the North Eastern States.

Manipur which till March 25, when the Nationwide lockdown was imposed, had only one case today has 175 cases.

Likewise the figure too has shot up in Nagaland, with the neighbouring State crossing the century mark at 107 as on June 6.

The climb here too has been fast. On June 3, the tally in Manipur stood at 121 after the highest spike on a single day till now) with 32 then new cases.

Fast forward to June 7 and the total number of infected persons has shot up to 175.

An increase by 54 cases in just four days and this should more than illustrate how fast the number of infection can rise.

Significant to note that the tally increases with the corresponding increase in the number of tests and the more tests are performed the more positive cases there will be in the coming days.

And there must be many more left to be tested, as thousands have arrived to Manipur from outside the State by train, bus and by air.

In the face of the disturbing reality it is only expected that all extend co-operation by observing the SoPs laid down by the Government, especially those staying at the numerous quarantine centres across the State.

This is the least that anyone can and should do but the number of people pulled up and fines collected by the policemen daily reflects the unwillingness of certain sections of people to fall in line.

My safety means your safety is a line that should not be forgotten.