By- Jimmy Pamei, Tamenglong
The Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) which made its appearance at the end of 2019 is now taking its toll at an alarming rate in China and spreading widely across the globe. Manipur, including the whole district at the valley and the hills, is no exception! No excuse. We are connected to Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram; and in our state, we are neighbour to Moreh, Myanmar, Thailand and other Asian countries that can pass on the virus at any moment. And studying the map of the world we are just some thousands of kilometers away from Wuhan, Hubei province of China where the deadly disease is said to have originated. It is likely to be ‘very soon arriving’ in this tiny part of the world. And this is very very serious!
Is all the District Administration and the Medical Department doing beyond the Advisories given out by the Health Department of Manipur? Are we prepared with a ‘Quarantine Hall’ in case a district has even a single case of Coronavirus? Are we making efforts to screen persons arriving or returning from metro cities, or other places of India and the world to our districts?
We cannot afford to be mere a sitting duck. It is high time we do something about it. We simply cannot be complacent or wait for the appearance of the first case of Covid-19 to swing into action. Let us press a pause button to other issues of development, even education and focus ourselves on the protection of our lives. Coronavirus is a threatening matter now that could wipe out the whole population along with our precious cultural heritage. Each District of Manipur can be a giant model to other districts if we take a small step today!-
