SHIILLONG, May 22: Lockdown and curfew in the hotspot areas of Covid cases in the state have hardly helped in reining in the spiralling new cases and accompanied staggering number of casualties.
Three weeks down the line after restrictions were imposed in East Khasi Hills district, the COVID-19 cases are showing no signs of declining. This is causing worries to the health officials.
The unabated spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in Meghalaya is in contrast to the nationwide trends of decline in fresh infections.
Though predictions were made in Meghalaya by senior health officials and agencies that the cases would reduce in Meghalaya in two weeks time but, so far such claims have gone wide off the mark.
It was on May 1 when containment measures were imposed in East Khasi Hills and during the period cases did not decline in the district forcing the Government to go for a lockdown from May 5 and even the lockdown has failed to have the desired impact.
Unable to reduce the cases, the Government once again ordered for complete lockdown on May 19 and even now, new infections have continued to soar throughout the state, especially in the outlying areas. With a large proportion of fatalities being reported from the rural areas, where the government has lesser administrative control, is another cause of worry.
The officials in the state, however, are once again exuding optimism that the complete lockdown would help bring down the COVID cases considerably as people are unable to mingle with each other for so many days.
It may be mentioned that majority of the shops are closed and commercial activities in Shillong have been halted for more than 20 days now and people are proactively cooperating with the call of the Government.
The poor people whose economic activities have been adversely affected also continue to follow the lockdown while sitting idle in their homes and only hoping against hopes that situation would turnaround sooner than not. The state’s COVID surges was the worst in the last one week. In seven days between May 15 and May 18, Meghalaya reported 6,675 cases and 155 fatalities.
As the situation keeps on worsening, over a hundred casualties and more than 6,000 new infections have been logged. The frightening statistics have led to a sense of fear among people who are now seen respecting the lockdown as only few vehicles of the Government, health workers and frontline workers are seen plying.
Most of the offices and institutions in the capital city are closed and hardly any pedestrian is noticed on the roads these days.
Amidst this lockdown and pandemic, some front liners and health workers doctors, nurses, police and CRPF personnel, traffic police and media personnel are seen doing their job on the streets of Shillong while NGOs and groups are seen offering tea and snacks to the traffic personnel on duty.
Government, communities and civil societies are doing their bit to assist in whatever way they can while the faithful belonging to different faiths continue to pray in their homes for taming the invisible virus that’s taking a huge toll of unsuspecting lives.
