Need for all to be responsibleNot the time to relax

How responsible are we as a people to tackle the spread of the virus ? This is a question which everyone with any modicum of sense should be asking themselves. Get vaccinated is the call of the Government and it has even gone to the extent of hinting that when the restrictions are lifted it would not apply to those who have not yet received the vaccination jabs. On the other hand, the number of positive cases continue to gallop every 24 hours, and today there are nearly 70 thousand people who have been infected here. Moreover over 1000 people have died due to the virus. Despite this plain fact, it is obvious that many are still reluctant to come out and get their vaccination jabs. As stated here many times, the Government will need more than appeal and seriously think about working a way to get the people come out for their vaccination jabs. This obviously entails that the Government ensure that there are enough vaccines for everyone and this is being stated with what was reported by NDTV on Assam a few days back. The lockdown or restrictions or curfew has been extended till July 10 and this is in line with the growing number of fresh infections everyday and this is what was expected. The positivity rate is still above 10 percent, which is way above the recommended rate prescribed by WHO to open up. Obviously Manipur cannot afford to open up when the positivity rate is as high as 13.6 percent as recorded on June 30. This means that for every 100 person tested, more than 13 returned positive results and this is a disturbing figure by any stretch of the imagination.
No one knows when the situation will become normal or the positivity rate falls below 5 percent for the State to open up. But what will stand for eternity is the need for the people to maintain a certain sense of discipline. In earlier days, it was not uncommon to see people coming out to see how effective the curfew or the bandh was ! This mindset continues to rule and even as the curfew or restrictions or containment tag continues, traffic police personnel are compelled to come out and regulate vehicular movement. There have been reports of road accidents too and this is what is worrying. If the need arises for traffic cops to come out and regulate movement of vehicles when the lockdown or restriction is still in force, what does it say about the mentality of the people ? Pathetic it is and this is a reflection of a mindset which just does not care about what the Government is doing to flatten the curve. Tackling the pandemic is the responsibility of everyone, but looking at the mentality of the people, it is doubtful if at all the people as a whole can be trusted with such a responsibility. The Government too must take another relook at its ‘contact tracing’ and ‘home isolation’ model.