State still on test and trial mode
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: August 05, 2021 -

The government persisting with the same old policy of intermittently imposing curfew and then partially lifting the same along with allowing activities in specific sectors for nearly 16 months since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 show that the authorities are not only running out of ideas on how to contain the pandemic but also trying to drive home the message that breaking the transmission chain of the infectious disease will rest on the public's response to the prevailing situation.

Contrary to the daily press briefing by officials of the Union health ministry regularly figuring Manipur as one of the states with disturbingly high rate of viral infections in addition to the ministry advising the state governments to put in stringent preventive measures, chief secretary Dr Rajesh Kumar notifying extension of the curfew till August 7 but allowing staggered resumption of institutional and public activities underscore helplessness of the policy makers in facing the contagious second wave of the pandemic.

Ironically, the latest order for curfew extension and relaxation issued on August 3 came on the same day the state crossed the grim milestone of one lakh cumulative cases of Covid-19.

There had been variations in the test positivity rate, including decline in the number of daily cases in the last few days, that might have emboldened the government to ease the curbs but the fact remains that the state's pandemic situation has been a cause of concern for even the ministry officials sitting in New Delhi.

With the public enduring untold hardships due to imposition of prolonged curfew, it is obvious that the government too is facing the heat to mitigate the suffering and is taking the risk of testing whether or not the public would adhere to the Covid-19 SOPs.

Nevertheless, the state's decision to partially lift the restrictions is unlikely to go down well with the health ministry as it has been constantly advising states recording over 10 per cent of positivity rate to impose stringent containment measures.

For the record, India's recovery rate stands at 9735 per cent and the active cases constitute 1.31 per cent of the total cases while weekly positivity rate is currently trailing at 2.30 per cent. The daily positivity rate too continues to remain below 5 per cent for 55 continuous days.

In Manipur's case, the daily positivity rate as on Tuesday was 1375 per cent while July ended with the infection rate of 15.64 per cent.

The July figure is also the second highest for the state after the 16.27 per cent recorded in May, thereby signifying that the second wave of the pandemic continues to have vice-like grip on the state.

The Centre might be drawn towards the present pandemic situation in Kerala where the number of daily new cases is nearly half the total of India's but the high positivity rate in the state is certain to be worrying the health ministry which recently cautioned that the National Disaster Management Act (NDMA) might be invoked to issue directions to states where Covid positivity rates are high unless the situation changes for the better and central advisories to restrict movement are followed in areas currently recording worrying levels of infections.

The only reason the Centre is delaying to promulgate the National Disaster Management Act might be due to realisation that a state like Manipur lacks administrative efficiency to contain the virus and resources to help the citizens remain indoors.

Thus, it could be safely stated that Manipur will continue to see more tests and triafwith curfews and relaxations till the virus dies on its own regardless of the fact that inability to contain spread of the disease will lead to wider ramifications and breed new variants of Covid-19 that could render the mass vaccination drive impotent to fight the pandemic.