Increasing number of positive cases : Three Ts: Test, Trace, Treat
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 07 2020 -

Test, Trace, Treat.

The three Ts, coupled with the SOPs of 'wear a face mask while stepping out, wash hands regularly with soap and water or a hand sanitiser, maintain social/physical distancing, avoid large gathering', are the Biblical truths to stay away from the virus and take the fight to the pandemic.

Break the chain, is the slogan. Everyone knows how religiously the SOPs are followed by the public and this is most visible on the roads of Imphal.

With the wedding season on, no one seems bothered to go by the directive of the Government to keep the number of gathering down to the minimum and it wouldn't be surprising if the wedding does turn out to be super spreaders in the coming days.

This is where questions may well be raised on whether the job of the Government begins and ends with just issuing directives or not.

It would make so much more sense if trouble is taken to minutely explain why social distancing is needed.

It would also help a lot more if the benefits of wearing face mask while stepping out is explained more minutely.

Imposing fines has not worked for everyday Imphal based newspapers carry report on the amount of money collected as fines from those pulled up for violating the SOPs such as not wearing face mask.

Do all the public carriers, such as taxis, auto rickshaws and buses adhere to the limit set to carry passengers?

It would help if more attention is paid to the auto-rickshaws carrying passengers to and from Imphal to the other districts.

This is about the conduct and responsibility of the public but what about the Government?

Are the needed tests being conducted? How about the task of contact tracing? How religiously is this followed?

It is not for nothing why the World Health Organisation has stressed on the process of test, treat and trace and the question is how religiously does the Government take up contact tracing work.

Speak to anyone who has recovered and one will get a fair idea of where contact tracing lies in the scheme of things of the Government.

Contact tracing should be more than the routine 'all necessary medical precautionary measures like containment and contact tracing are in place'.

This observation becomes all that more important given the fact that most of the new positive cases always come with the line, 'All of them have no significant travel history'.

It is against this reality that Manipur continues to see a daily surge in the number of positive cases as well as Covid related deaths.

Another question is how well monitored are those who have opted for home isolation after testing positive.

Are they being asked to find out the number of people they came into contact with recently?

Or is it nothing much more than inquiring about the health of the infected person?

These questions are important and should be taken note of by the department concerned of the State Government. The figure is worrying.

Not a day passes by without Covid related deaths and the number of positive cases too is increasing daily without fail.

There is no indication of the curve flattening.

This is all the more reason why the Government will need to strictly follow the three Ts of test, trace and treat.

The public too should take note of the figures of more than 300 deaths and over 25 thousand positive cases, as on December 5.

Even as this is being penned down the number of deaths and positive cases would have increased.