TURA, July 28: A seven-month-old baby girl in Dakopgre locality here has become the youngest victim to die from Covid infection in Garo Hills on Wednesday.
“The mother of the child got infected with the virus and may have passed the infection to the baby. The mother had not taken the vaccine and it becomes very dangerous once infection sets in,” a concerned Ram Singh, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner informed.
A 70 year old man from proper Hawakhana who suffered a heart attack and was brought dead to Tura civil hospital on the same day tested positive for Covid. His cause of death has been medically termed as cardiac infarction or cardiac arrest.
The number of infections in Garo Hills refuses to come down as more and more cases are still getting detected in different regions and towns, including localities across Tura.
There is a worrying sign that given the continuing spike in cases the disease is highly unlikely to go away anytime soon. The infection rate has already touched 9.88% on Tuesday due to a fresh number of cases.
The primary reason for the rising cases is because a sizable number of people in Tura and other parts of the region still refuse to take the vaccination to protect themselves and others.
Take for example the new admissions of Covid patients to the Covid Ward in Tura civil hospital on Wednesday. Out of the eight new patients, 7 have not taken even a single vaccination dose.
Another reason has been the delayed seeking of medical treatment by those infected and having symptoms.
An audit and analysis of the Covid deaths in West Garo Hills in the past one week by medical teams has found that 95 percent of the deaths happened because those infected had delayed going for a test and early treatment. Also, the infections were detected primarily during testing at the hospital itself.
The medical research also showed that out of the total number of deaths from Covid in the last one week, 97 percent were victims who had not gotten vaccinated.
“This delay in seeking health care is becoming an alarming factor in handling the fatality numbers. The people who find themselves symptomatic or even test positive may be allowed to go by themselves to the hospitals without waiting for ambulances to ferry them. This would help in simplifying the process and de-stigmatize those who test positive to seek early treatment in a way they find convenient, which could be the nearest PHC/CHC or a hospital of their choice,” announced DC Ram Singh in a special bulletin on Wednesday.
Alarm bells are also ringing over the use of unscientific medical treatment by some who test positive. According to the DC, people are also seeking alternative medicines or visiting informal practitioners and getting admitted to hospitals only at a later stage which may have been too late for treatment.
Medical experts and scientists across the world and in India have been urging, time and again, that the only way for the pandemic to end is to follow the Covid protocols and get vaccinated, something the naysayers refuse to believe and continue to aid in prolonging the disease.