Raising one fundamental question : How about the 14 days quarantine ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 16 2020 -

Certain fundamental points need to be tackled.

Should it be the duty of the sending State or the receiving State to determine whether a person is COVID-19 positive or not ?

Shouldn’t it be made mandatory for the sending State to first determine whether an individual is ‘clean’ to travel to another State, irrespective of whether it is his or her home State or not ?

Should all be satisfied with the temperature scanning exercise taken up when one is to leave by train or arrive at a place by train or bus or any other vehicle ?

These questions pertain to movements within the country and giving some serious thoughts to these posers can certainly go a long way in addressing the real reason for enforcing the Nationwide lockdown, which has already crossed the 40 days mark.

And these posers have been raised in the backdrop of the fact that today Manipur has a new COVID-19 positive case, after the first two patients have been discharged from hospital and have undergone the necessary home quarantine period.

There are still some more disturbing questions that need to be addressed.

The third person to be infected had come all the way from Mumbai in a private vehicle and his travel history shows that he reached Mao Gate at about 1.30 in the morning on May 13 after leaving Mumbai on Mumbai 9, and thereafter was put in a community quarantine centre at Jamia Hamia Azij School.

This is his brief travel history from Mumbai to Imphal, but the most significant point here is that the man’s mother had passed away from COVID-19 at Mumbai on May 5.

The family had gone to Mumbai for the treatment of the man’s father and here arises the question of what happened to the necessary quarantine period of 14 days, if anyone had come into contact with a COVID-19 positive person ?

Why was he allowed to leave Mumbai just four days after his mother passed away on May 5 from the virus ?

A clear cut sign of ignoring the red flag and this is where this matter should be addressed to at the level of the Government.

Remember how the whole of Thangmeiband area was sealed off when Manipur witnessed its first COVID-19 positive case on March 24.

Also remember how the whole of Lilong area too was cut off when the second case came up on April 2.

Now how was the man allowed to leave Mumbai and travel all the way from Mumbai to Imphal by road ?

How did such an important point fly over the head of the Government of Maharastra ?

Or was the Government of Manipur in the know that the son of the woman who had passed away due to COVID-19 would be coming here without the mandatory period of 14 days quarantine ?

These are questions which need to be tackled and addressed to at the level of the Government and the sooner this is done, the better it would be for everyone.

On the one hand there is the National lockdown to flatten the curve or break the chain of transmission and on the other here is a case of the son of a deceased woman allowed to travel all the way from Mumbai to Manipur, just five days after the mother passed away from COVID-19.

An important point, somewhere is missing and it is the duty of the Government to see how this all important point was missed.

No one can be too careful at this moment and one just has to look at Tripura to realise how fast a place or a State can go from a Green Zone to an Orange or a Red Zone.

Remember it was only on April 25 that the Chief Minister of Tripura announced that the State was COVID-19 free but today it has 156 positive cases.

No one can be too careful.