Meghalaya reports its first Covid+ve case on Monday even as the State Government extends the lockdown up to April 30 to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic which has just entered Meghalaya and that through a senior medical professional. This makes it more complex since the doctor has been treating several patients on a daily basis until he reported sick. As far as precautions are concerned, Meghalaya Government had taken quick action beginning with 2 days of curfew and one day of relaxation from March 20 last. Recently Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had written to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi that certain critical areas such as agriculture and labour under the MNREGA should be opened up to ease the plight of those engaged in these sectors. Government too will be functioning more optimally post April 14 since governance at this juncture is critical and has to reach the last mile where assistance in the form of essential supplies to the most needy is imperative. This is a pragmatic decision. Meghalaya has decided to strictly curb inter-state and even inter-district travel to prevent any unforeseen infection through travel-related causes. It is true that Meghalaya has not had extensive testing but that is also because there was no reported case as yet in the State. Meghalaya has meanwhile learnt to put systems in place to deal with new exigencies.
A lockdown which seeks to ensure social distancing has to be better explained to people beyond the state capital of Shillong and also be better enforced. This, because a lockdown and social distancing both, besides the hand washing, mask wearing regimen are the only ways to check the spread of the pandemic and for India to reach that point where the curve is flattened. It is worrying that states like Maharashtra, particularly the capital Mumbai is showing a spike in Covid-19 cases. So too Rajasthan which is second highest followed by Kerala.
Kerala, however, seems to have limited the rate of casualties at 0.54% which is well below the global average besides flattening the growth curve of confirmed cases. Since the first confirmed Covid-19 case in the state was reported over 100 days ago, loss of life due to the infection has been just two against a total of 364 persons that tested positive. There is need to imbibe lessons from Kerala on measures adopted to tackle the pandemic
Prime Minister Modi will be addressing the nation on Tuesday at 10 am to announce the next course of action, but what is clear is that the nation will be divided into zones listed as severe, moderate and Covid free. Covid negative zones will obviously be able to take up more activities such as manufacturing and agriculture than the other two and that’s important if the economy has to be revved up.