What was feared seems to be coming true. With Covid-19 making a comeback across India, it is breaching Arunachal Pradesh too after weeks of no cases.
Eight new Covid-19 cases have been reported in the state in the last 24 hours. At the same time, the country saw the biggest daily surge in Covid cases since mid-September, with 93, 249 fresh Covid 19 infections taking the tally to over 1.24 crore.
Amidst an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases, which is in its second wave, the Maharashtra government has been forced to announce new restrictions, including a night curfew in the state and a ‘strict lockdown’ over the weekends from Friday 8 pm to Monday 7 am.
Experts have cited lack of proper testing and lax attitude of authorities towards the rise in the number of Covid-19 infections.
Arunachal Pradesh should learn a hard lesson from what is happening in the rest of the country. Here in the state too, the authorities hardly seem worried about the Covid-19 infection. The citizens also do not follow any protocol. Even the number of testing being done has gone down.
The health department is still relying mostly on RAT, which is not reliable. The RT-PCR and TrueNat, which are considered most accurate, should be encouraged.
At present, both the tests are very expensive and the government needs to bring the price down immediately. More people should be encouraged to come forward for RT-PCR and TrueNat if they exhibit any kind of symptoms.
Also, it is time the authorities start imposing Covid-19 guidelines like compulsory wearing of masks and maintaining of social distancing once again.
Till a major portion of the population is vaccinated, these are some of the best possible solutions to stop the further spread of Covid-19 in the state.