Positive cases rise amid public complacency
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 04, 2022 -

UNDERSTANDABLY, focus of both government agencies and the public at the juncture are on the search and rescue mission in the aftermath of the Makhuam village landslide while seemingly forgetting another frightful situation evolving in the state due to constant detection of new Covid-19 cases.

After days of remaining free from the contagious disease that has been creating havoc in almost all the countries for over two years now, an unmissable scenario in the state is the alarming percentage of test positivity rate of Covid-19 recorded every day for over a week now.

Amid the masses letting down the guard and the government authorities seemingly undermining the importance of reviewing the evolving situation with the notion that the contagion is over, there has been regular detection of fresh cases, mainly among residents of the densely populated twin capital districts.

That the virus is still out there and could strike at any moment in case the basic precautionary measure of masking up is not adhered to as could be comprehended from Saturday reporting seven fresh cases out of 64 samples tested and registering 10.94 per cent positivity rate.

While Saturday's figure broke the highest daily test positivity rate of February 5 as well as the highest single day fresh cases since April 14, 16 more persons found positive on Sunday at the TPR of 12.7 per cent sum up gravity of the situation.

So far, after resurgence of the dreaded disease since discharge of the last patient, the only respite from the evolving situation is that there has been neither Covid-19 related fatality nor any instance of widespread infection, with exception of isolated cases in a handful of districts.

Nevertheless, the seven fresh cases recorded on Saturday underscores that the health department authorities cannot ignore possibility of return of the contagious disease.

Similar, to an expert of Manipur Remote Serving Application Centre (MARSAC), observing that the devastation caused to lives and properties by the Makhuam landslide could have been minimised to some extent had the government or the stakeholders concerned cared to carry out afforestation activities as the landslide-hit area lies close to the epicentre of the devastating 2016 earthquake, the health department officials need to keep a tab on the daily detection of Covid-19 in the state and do the needful to prevent repeat of the health crisis.

The impact from the first two waves of contagion that claimed the lives of over 2000 people, including fully vaccinated citizens, and infected nearly 1.40 lakh, should serve as a bitter lesson for the health department to swing into action rather than wait for the government's formal instruction.

In fact, the Union health ministry had already issued instructions to the state governments for taking up stringent preventive measures.

The centre's advisory may have emphasised on checking incoming passengers from abroad but there is no reason why the state's health department should fret over doing the needful when the situation is still under control.

It is also suggested that department officials either resume the weekly media briefing or issue statements that could compel the general population to follow the safety protocols instead of the daily update on the detection of new cases, number of samples tested and administration of vaccine doses.