Striking at will all over the place Give vaccination status

The virus is playing havoc here. It is all over the place and apart from infecting at will it has also been killing regularly. On July 13, 2021, Manipur recorded the second highest death count on a single day with 22, just short of the 23 registered on May 19. And the infection is climbing, with each day logging more than 700 for the last couple of days. Micro-containment zones, mass testing, reviewing the home isolation model, food now being supplied at Covid Care Centres for those staying put their after contracting the virus. These are some of the new steps that have been taken up, but this has obviously not slowed down the spread of the virus and the daily deaths in the State. At the last count, that is on July 13, Manipur had inched very close to the 80 thousand mark of the total infected persons at 79,417 and if the trend continues then it wouldn’t be long before the one lakh mark is reached. As stated earlier in this column, there is a missing link and  focus of the Government should be on identifying where the missing link is and what it is. And obviously get down to the business of fixing the missing link. What more can be done ? The figures are given daily, no doubt about that, but what about giving more details such as how many of the deceased had received or not received their vaccinations ? Such a measure should go a long way in helping certain set of people get over their vaccine hesitancy for the catch phrase of the Government and the health experts have been that vaccines go a long way in reducing the severity of the infection. Independent works conducted by some media houses have also revealed that vaccinated people rarely feel the need to be put on oxygen. It is these points which need to be highlighted to the people and certainly the daily inputs given by the COVID-19 Common Control Room can throw a light on how many of those who have passed away received their vaccination shots or not.
The IDSP has also been giving a report on the daily positivity rate of the State. This is noted and every media house in Manipur must be following the inputs religiously. However it would help a lot and sensitise the people more, if district wise positivity rate can be given along with the overall positivity rate. Actual numbers may be misleading in the sense that a place which reports a low number of positive cases just because the number of people who have turned up to get themselves tested may be low, very low. This is an important point which the Government should look into and not remain satisfied with just giving an overall daily positivity rate. Manipur has 16 districts and surely this is something which can be worked out for each district daily. Put the communication tools to good use, is a one line suggestion that comes to mind. Information should be taken as one of the key points to aid the Government and the people in fighting the pandemic.  A break up of the vaccination status of the departed souls, the daily positivity rate in each of the 16 districts are things that can be taken up and highlighted to the people and this can certainly go some significant way in helping the people and the Government put up a more meaningful battle against the virus which seems to be striking at will.