Maharashtra surpassing China's tally : Nearing 300 cases
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 09 2020 -

The tally count today is not between India and China but between China and one State in the country-Maharashtra, which is leading the table in the country.

Not that there was a comparison in COVID count between the two countries, but significant to note the graph between the two most populous countries in the world.

When COVID-19 first broke out or when China first announced the outbreak of the disease in December last year, India had none.

It was only on January 30, 2020 that India recorded its first positive case.

Again Maharashtra came later on the scene with its first positive case recorded on March 9, when a couple in Pune returning from Dubai tested positive.

From there the virus spread fast and as on June 7, the State had 85,975 positive cases in comparison with China where the number of positive cases has been put at 83,036.

The record says how fast the virus has spread in the country.

On March 14 India had 100 cases while China had more than 80,000 cases and in just 62 days, that is on May 15, India had overtaken China's tally with over 85 thousand cases.

The speed at which the virus has spread is worrying and as experts have predicted, India may expect to see the peak in the next 2/3 months.

Important to note that while countries like China, South Korea, UK and others seem to have flattened the curve, the count in India is on an upward trajectory.

Maharashtra is leading but remember other States like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Delhi are also up there amongst the States with high prevalence.

Manipur too has not been lagging behind and has been perfectly reflecting the rapid increase in the number of positive cases.

Single highest spike on a single day, highest increase in the last 24 hours etc are terms which have become normal and have even come to define the day's papers in Imphal and elsewhere in the State, reflecting how the virus has infected a good number of people.

Increase the testing capacity and the number of positive cases will only increase - this is the bottomline keeping in mind that there are still many who are waiting to be tested in the numerous quarantine centres set up across the State.

Add the fact that many more are expected to return in the coming days and it would not be totally unexpected if Manipur joins the league of 500 plus cases.

The State added 68 new positive cases on June 8, taking the total tally of infected to 272.

And this is not the first time that Manipur has seen additions in double digits and will certainly see more such additions in the coming days.

The important question is if the State Government had expected such a scenario when the decision to open the doors to the thousands of Manipuri folks stranded outside the State was taken.

Many more will arrive in the coming days and the decision to open one COVID dedicated centre at a school is a welcome move and setting up more testing units is just what the State needs at the moment.