Veroli Zhimo
On Tuesday, the Nagaland state government made two major announcements during a press briefing —free vaccines for those above the age of 18 and the decision to “impose a lockdown with new guidelines from April 30.” Regardless of the fact that the government spokesperson repeatedly used the term ‘lockdown’ during the briefing, hours later, he backtracked and tweeted that “...It is not a lockdown! This is a clarification.”
Perhaps, the flip-flop by the government can be explained in correlation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent address to the nation where he implored the states to impose lockdown only as a ‘last resort.’ Or perhaps, it did not want to cause panic among the populace considering the effect of the lockdowns that were imposed in 2020.
Whatever the case may be, now is not the time to fixate on finding a nomenclature for what has been imposed. It also is not the time for appeasement politics. Instead, it would be prudent for state government to hunker down and get its priorities straight, considering the surge in the state’s caseload.
Last week (April 17 to 23), the state Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) reported a total 385 new COVID-19 cases. In the next five days, the figure has almost doubled with 680 new cases being reported so far. The IDSP had also pointed out that “high positivity rate signifies undetected cases in the population.”
In Tuesday’s briefing, the state Government assured that, “The State is fully prepared to address any eventuality.” However, the same claim was made in March last year only to be proven wrong as returnees began to come in from other parts of the country.
At present, the second viral wave of the pandemic has crushed most health systems. While the numbers in Nagaland may seem relatively low compared to the other larger states, we cannot dismiss the ferocity with which the virus is spreading.
In any case, citizens must remember that their cooperation and adherence to all COVID-19 appropriate behaviours is vital in order to ensure that the pandemic is curbed.
As for the state’s overall preparedness, one can only hope that the government’s assurance is not only on paper.
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