States show grit in combating corona; push limits to contain outbreak

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) As the world is grappling with the tragedy unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic — which forced millions into isolation — it is not all dark and the need for positivity becomes even more critical. The negative should not become the new normal, as every cloud has a silver lining. A

In display of the indomitable spirit doctors, nurses, medical professionals, policemen, administrative officials and others associated with essential services involved in the fight against this deadly virus, — which has led to thousands deaths across the globe, have shown true grit in fighting an everyday battle to contain the pandemic.

The Union Health Ministry on Friday had said before lockdown the COVID-19 case doubling rate was 3 days and in the last 7 days’ data shows that it is 6.2 days now and in 19 states and Union Territories, COVID-19 case doubling rate is less than the country’s average.

Goa is likely to become India’s first COVID-19-free state, if no new cases emerge. From April 4 to April 18, no new cases have been detected in the state. Out of 7 cases so far, 6 have been recovered and discharged.

Maharashtra, which reported the bulk of coronavirus cases, is fighting the hardest battle to contain the coronavirus outbreak, finally experiencing a slowdown in the rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases. Earlier, the doubling rate was two days, which slowed down to three and a half days, and according to latest information, it is five-and-a-half days.

Currently, the state has 3,651 positive cases, 365 people cured and 211 succumbed to the deadly virus. As many as 1,400 people from the state, who attended the religious congregation at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz, have been traced and only 50 have tested positive for COVID-19.

The Kerala government is doing a commendable job, in fact leading from the front, in flattening the Covid-19 curve. Out of 400 cases, 257 have been cured and discharged, and three deaths were reported. Observers across the globe have praised the Kerala health system as one of the best to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

For example, In Kerala’s Kasargod district out of 168 COVID-19 cases, 113 have already been cured. In a bid to break the chain of transmission, the Kerala government monitored the home-quarantined people using geo-spatial tracking, and through the ‘break the chain’ campaign, promoted social distancing followed by aggressive testing. As a result, the state has the highest recovery rate from all states.

The North-East of the country is also not behind in waging a war to contain the pandemic: there is no fresh case in 7 of 8 north-east states in the past 24 hours. Sikkim is the clear winner, with zero positive cases so far.

This should not be a surprise, as it is also one of the cleanest states in the country by following extremely good standards of sanitation, where people have adopted excellent hygiene practices coupled with less population density are some major factors.

Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram only had one case followed by Tripura with only 2 cases. Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in a tweet on Friday afternoon said that from Golaghat Civil Hospital, four patients, including two women were discharged for 14-day home-quarantine, taking such a number of people to nine.

Assam is also doing an excellent job in fighting the coronavirus, out of 35 cases, 12 have recovered and most of the remaining are in a mild condition. Only one death has been recorded so far. 91% cases in Assam are connected with Tablighi Jamaat event.

With two more coronavirus positive cases reported in Meghalaya, taking the number of such cases in the northeastern region (excluding Sikkim) to 48. With the latest two positive cases, the total number of active cases in Meghalaya rose to eight after one death.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has confirmed India is not testing less. According to ICMR, In Japan, 11.7 persons are tested, to detect one positive case, which is highest in foreign countries.

“In Italy, 6.7 people are tested to find one positive case, in the US it’s 5.3 and in the UK it’s 3.4. Here in India, we do 24 tests for one positive case. of these 23 test negative, but still we conduct tests on them”, the ICMR official had said.

The ICMR says that everyone is not vulnerable.

Some more good news, India is also set to receive a huge consignment of PPE from South Korea, a much-needed boost for the frontline workers.

–IANS

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