Focus of Govt should be on Covid : After Aug 3, what?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 03, 2021 -

Fast development on the political front, with all the party hopping and talks doing the round that more are set to follow.

The coming Assembly elections, scheduled for the early part of next year has only added to the interest in the political developments, but amid all these fast paced developments and party hopping antics indulged in the by the veterans and not so veterans in the hurly burly world of politics is the rapid spread of the virus which has taken a heavy toll on the people.

And this should be understood beyond the daily statistics that come each day enumerating the number of fresh cases, number of deaths and the daily positivity rate but on how the common people are making ends meet.

In a sense lockdown literally means shutting down the earning avenues of quite a large number of people and the focus of the Government should also be on how the people are keeping the fire burning in their kitchen.

This is not about some high sounding economics funda, but something as basic as worrying where the next meal is going to come from and this is all that more true for the daily wage earner - The people who live from hand to mouth and depend on what one earns in a day.

This is also about the people who clothe and feed their children by running roadside eating joints, the leikai tea stalls etc.

This is also about the school van and school auto drivers who make a living by ferrying school children to and from school everyday.

The attention of the Government should be turned towards this and this is the time the undivided attention and focus of the Government should be on how to ensure that nobody goes hungry during the Covid induced lockdown or total curfew or whatever term one gives it.

The attention of the Government is drawn towards this, for the extended total curfew will expire on August 3.

What is the next step that the Government ought to take? Extend the lockdown or total curfew or gradually start opening up ?

This is where the most difficult part will lie.

The virus is still out there and the daily positivity rate has always been above the 10 percent mark.

The daily number of fresh infection too has always been above the 500 mark since June, save for June 28 when the number of fresh infection was 432 with a daily positivity rate of 9.6 percent.

Clearly not an enviable position for the Government and the people by any stretch of the imagination, but then again there is no option other than opting for gradual opening, especially opening some economic activities.

This should however come with the rider that SOPs should be adhered to strictly; Opening up invariably needs the co-operation of the people but the important question is whether the people of Manipur can be.

trusted to demonstrate a semblance of discipline. Everyone knows how all the prescribed dos and don'ts were tossed for a big six, whenever the Government opened up a bit in the past.

As pointed out many times in this column, it needs both the Government and the public to stick to the laid down SOPs to break the transmission chain.

The important question however is, after August 3, what?