Dr Asangba Tzudir
The steady surge in the number of Covid-19 positive cases in Nagaland in the last two weeks is something to be concerned about considering what the people of Nagaland had to go through during the peak of the pandemic.
The basic SOP’s of wearing face masks and using hand sanitizers is hardly followed and considering the recent trends, it once again needs to be followed. The recent distribution of face masks in certain places in Dimapur by DC Dimapur himself to those not wearing masks shows a sincere appeal to the general public to help combat the pandemic so also for the safety and well-being of the people.
The affect on the student community and their academics, and the price rise on both essential and non-essential commodities have been on the forefront of the various forms of effects caused by the pandemic and which is felt even now. As such, though the worst seems over, the pandemic isn’t over yet, and we cannot afford to drop our guard by ignoring the precautionary measures. The sufferings including the loss of lives during the pandemic is something that one would want to forget and post the worst of the pandemic times the effect is still deeply felt especially the price rise.
The ongoing outbreak of monkeypox is also another cause of concern where, as of July 23 there have been a total of 17,186 confirmed cases that the World Health organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) thereby raising the status of the outbreak to a global health emergency. It is an illness caused by the monkey pox virus, a viral zoonotic infection which means that it can spread from animals to humans and from person to person including the risk of death. Nagaland too needs to be vigilant by taking precautionary and preparatory measures in order to combat this monkeypox virus in case it reaches Nagaland and because there are currently four confirmed cases of monkeypox in India.
As such, the present situation only calls for strengthening the precautionary measures because there is no guarantee that the current steady rise may just fizzle out in a few days. It may change overnight for worse and the effect will be something which will be deeply felt for times to come.
For now, the state seems to be reeling under a state of complacency by ‘creating’ a COVID free situation. However, the Convid-19 pandemic isn’t over yet.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial to The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
