CCpur sees record surge in cases, vax crosses halfway mark

Our Correspondent
CCpur, Jul 24 : Churachandpur’s Covid ordeal is likely to be the worst in July as the district had by Saturday reported more than 2100 new cases, the highest monthly count, that went past the previous record of 1963 set last month.
The death toll too is clearly grim as two deaths reported today have take the toll to 32 deaths yesterday. This equals the previous highest monthly death toll of 32 recorded in June.
On average, 1.06 fatality has been reported each day of June while the daily average for July stands at 1.3, as of today.
With 39 beds in the general ward and 6 ICU beds in the 54 bedded Churachandpur Dedicated Covid-19 Ward currently occupied, as per a statement issued by DIO Churachandpur, the toll could be much grimmer.
In just 24 days, July has recorded 2197 fresh cases, accounting for over 27% of all infections recorded since the beginning of the pandemic last year. The daily fresh cases too continue to touch the three figure mark for the third consecutive day. Today, the count was 175; again, the highest single day total reported by the district.
Despite the State-wide total curfe completing the 7th day, there appears to be no letup in both fresh cases and deaths as house-to-house or mass testing in several localities and villages continue to unearth mass infections.
The active cases in Churachandpur currently stand at 944. A total of 120 have recovered from the infection today.
On the optimistic side, the district has now administered at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to more than half of its eligible population.
According to data released by the Health Department, Churachandpur’s vaccination percentage stands at 50.38 percent on Friday. It is a commendable effort as the district authorities have managed to ramp up the daily vaccination rate to about 2000 from the earlier 700-800 shots a day.
In an effort to further accelerate the vaccination exercise the district administration has scheduled mass vaccination at record locations across the district tomorrow. A notification issued by S Khaikhopau Ngaihte, Additional DC Churachandpur today scheduled mass vaccination tomorrow at 32 locations; 6 of the sites are under SDO/BDO Churachandpur; 2 under Samulamlan; 2 under Kangvai; 1 under Sangaikot; 14 under Tuibong; 5 under Saikot; 2 under Singngat SDO/BDO.
With the massive vaccination drive planned for tomorrow, the administration is anticipating to administer at least 7000 vaccine shots on a single day. As there still are innumerable requests for vaccination drives, the pace if maintained, officials are confident that the vaccination percentage could well cross the 60 percent mark when the lockdown winds up next week, even if it misses the desirable 70 percent. In fact, Churachandpur is the only second hill district, after Tengnoupal, to have attained the half-way mark. The valley districts however have all fared much better on the vaccination rate.