Indications of things to come: NE on COVID-19 map
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 16 2020 -

The indications are clear.

The number of positive cases will increase in the coming days and correspondingly the figure of deaths will continue to see an upward climb.

Will take time for the curve to flatten and this is the harsh reality.

The North East region of India which had recorded no infections till March 23 today has over 40 positive cases, as on April 15, 2022 and given the manner in which the virus has been spreading, the number of infected is sure to see a climb on April 16.

So far there have been reports of two deaths due to the virus and there is nothing much to suggest that the figure will stop at two.

Other than those who have been infected in the North East region of the country, at least two from the region and staying in other parts of the country have been reported as having tested positive for the coronavirus.

As things stand today, that is April 15, 2020, three persons from Manipur, two in the State and one outside and staying at Delhi have tested positive for the virus and this is where people need to learn something from the manner in which they responded when the first positive case was reported.

Now that the young girl who tested positive for the virus on March 24 has been discharged from hospital after testing negative three times, perhaps the ugliness of how some extremely self righteous girls and boys took to the social media and ridiculed, shamed and blamed her for bringing the virus to the State should not be forgotten.

Now is the time to seriously introspect on the conduct of such self righteous elements.

Two dead in the North East from the virus and what has given a sense of urgency to the Meghalaya case lies in the fact that the son-in-law of the deceased who is a pilot with Air India is from Manipur and visited the State on March 16 from Delhi and again flew back to Delhi on March 20.

It was on March 24 that he proceeded to Shillong from Delhi and underwent self quarantine from March 24 till April 7.

Again like some earlier cases, certain sections of the people have started jumping the gun and pointing fingers but let it be clear that the final word is yet to be said and this is not the time to point fingers but to stand together as one for here is a global pandemic.

The matter of greater import at this stage is to acknowledge the fact that so far two in the North East have died from the virus and the challenge ahead of everyone demands that all come and stand together.

Tracing the ‘source’ is no doubt important for combating the virus has much to do with tracing but this should not be reduced to an exercise of finger pointing.

The way ahead is long and even as people in the region may hail the Kerala model in the country or other countries such as South Korea in dealing with the virus, it would help all to study how they have responded to the situation when faced with the reality, something which all are facing right now.